US President Joe Biden will phone Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday evening Moscow time, the Kremlin said on Friday. This comes following a written request from the White House. The two leaders are set to discuss the current tensions over Ukraine.
“The American side asked for a conversation with President Putin, and it will take place tomorrow evening Moscow time,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Biden left the White House on Friday afternoon for the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. He is supposed to stay there over the weekend.
Shortly before his departure, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, publicly urged all American civilians to leave Ukraine, saying that in case of a Russian invasion, which could happen “any day now,” they might not be able to do so, or count on another Afghanistan-style US military evacuation.
While Sullivan’s descriptions of an impending Russian attack on Ukraine matched the reports circulating in the US media on Friday, he said these reports were not true, as the White House believes a decision to attack has not yet been made in Moscow.
The US has claimed since late October that Russia is preparing to attack Ukraine, with Moscow describing the allegations as “fake news.”