WASHINGTON: US Presi­dent Joe Biden told his Russ­ian counterpart Vladimir Putin to ease mounting tensions with neighboring Ukraine on Tuesday, joining a pushback against a build-up of troops along their border which has raised alarm among Nato allies.

As a new report from American intelligence said Russia was not seeking direct conflict with the United States, the White House revealed Biden had spoken by phone with Putin to propose a summit between the two leaders at a neutral venue.

The Kremlin said the two men had agreed to “continue dialogue” without saying whether Putin had agreed to what would be their first meeting since Biden came to power.

The Russian buildup at the Ukrainian border has caused mounting alarm in the West in recent days, with the United States saying that troop levels are at their highest since 2014, when war first broke out with Moscow-backed separatists.

Biden “voiced our concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine’s borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions,” the White House said after the phone call.

“President Biden reaffirmed his goal of building a stable and predictable relationship with Russia consistent with US interests, and proposed a summit meeting in a third country in the coming months”, it added in a statement.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2021