No concrete plan for Biden-Putin summit: Kremlin

Emmanuel Macron proposes Biden-Putin summit; White House says summit possible only if Russia does not invade

The Kremlin on Monday said there were no concrete plans for a summit over Ukraine between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, after the French President said the two leaders had agreed on a meeting in principle.

A summit might offer a path out of Europe’s biggest military crisis in decades, and European financial markets edged higher on the glimmer of hope for a diplomatic solution.

Both Washington and Moscow played down hopes of a breakthrough, and satellite imagery appeared to show Russian deployments closer to Ukraine’s border than before.

Nerves frayed further when Moscow’s close ally Belarus announced on Sunday that Russia would extend military exercises there.

After talks in Brussels with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, British foreign minister Liz Truss said Western countries were preparing for a “worst-case scenario”. The airlines Lufthansa, KLM and Air France all cancelled flights to Kiev.

But the European Union rebuffed a call from Kiev to impose some sanctions now to try to avert war before it started.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a call or meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden could be set up at any time, but there were no concrete plans yet for a summit. Tensions were growing, he said, but a Foreign Ministers’ meeting was possible this week.