White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday that any meeting between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not occur in the foreseeable future, though the “door to diplomacy” is still open.
In Tuesday’s press briefing, Psaki told reporters that “the door to diplomacy [with Russia] still remains open” and that they will “continue to remain open to having diplomatic conversations once, if and when, they [Russia] deescalate” the situation in Ukraine.
Psaki’s response came after CNN journalist MJ Lee asked if she could “help paint a picture of what exactly diplomacy looks like in terms of dealing with Russia.”
In her question, Lee noted that Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday that he was canceling a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that was scheduled for Thursday.
Blinken said in remarks from the State Department that “now that we see the invasion is beginning, and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time.”
“I consulted with our allies and partners. All agree,” he continued.
Blinken added that “the United States and I personally remain committed to diplomacy if Russia is prepared to take demonstrable steps to provide the international community with any degree of confidence that it’s serious about deescalating and finding a diplomatic solution.”
In the press briefing, Lee followed-up with Psaki and asked if a Biden-Putin “diplomatic” conversation could occur in the future.
“That remains an option and as we said, I think over the course of the last few days, he’s always going to be open to having leader to leader conversations, but this isn’t the time to do it,” Psaki said. “President Putin is overseeing the invasion of a sovereign country.”
Tuesday afternoon, as Katie reported, Biden issued remarks from the White House where he announced new sanctions on Russian banks, sovereign debt and oligarchs following Putin’s invasion into Ukraine this week.
"This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," Biden said. "I'm going to begin to impose sanctions in response."
Almost an hour and a half late, Biden says that he will impose sanctions "far beyond" those which were imposed in 2014. pic.twitter.com/zGPElivTun
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 22, 2022
In his remarks, Biden also announced new U.S. troop movements and equipment in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He also braced Americans for consequences at home, stating that “defending freedom will have costs for us as well.”
BIDEN: "Defending freedom will have costs for us as well, and here at home. We need to be honest about that." pic.twitter.com/bhJa10Oy2y
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 22, 2022