Biden and Putin talk for two hours about Ukraine

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a two-hour virtual talk about Ukraine and other disputes this Tuesday, amid Western fears that Russia is about to invade its southern neighbor.

Russian television footage showed Biden and Putin greeting each other amiably at the start of what was expected to be a tense conversation. Biden told Putin he hopes their next meeting will be in person.

The White House issued a statement saying the conversation had started, but it did not show any images of the protected "Situation Room" where Biden was staying.

The two presidents talked for two hours and a minute, according to the White House.

The Kremlin said it hopes the two leaders will be able to hold a face-to-face summit to debate what it describes as the sorry state of US-Russian relations, which are at their worst since the end of the Cold War.

Ahead of the videoconference, US officials said Biden would tell Putin that Russia and its banks could be hit by the worst economic sanctions to date if they invade Ukraine.

They said the sanctions, which one source said could target Russia's biggest banks and their ability to convert rubles into dollars and other currencies, were designed to deter Putin from using the thousands of soldiers gathered near the Ukrainian border to attack.

The Kremlin, which before Tuesday's meeting said it did not expect any progress, said it had no intentions of attacking Ukraine and that the soldiers' deployment was purely defensive.

But the Russian government expresses growing annoyance at Western military aid to Ukraine, a former Soviet republic leaning westward since a popular uprising toppled a pro-Russian president in 2014, and what it calls a sneaky expansion of the military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

For its part, Russia expresses doubts about Ukraine's intentions and says it wants assurances that Ukraine will not use force to try to retake territory lost to Russian-backed separatists, something the Ukrainian government has ruled out.

"We are looking for good, predictable relations with the United States. Russia never intended to attack anyone, but we have our concerns and we have our red lines," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Urging everyone to keep a "cool head," Peskov said it was vital that Putin and Biden talk, given what he called an extraordinary escalation of tensions in Europe.

Leaders from the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy would hold a videoconference at 3 pm GMT in the wake of the conversation between Biden and Putin, the White House and the office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Text translated using artificial intelligence.