WASHINGTON. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Before its President Joe Biden travelled to Kiev, the United States contacted Moscow to avoid unforeseen situations, U.S. presidential advisor for national security Jake Sullivan said.
"We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for de-confliction purposes. And because of the sensitive nature of those communications, I won't get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was," the state department quoted Sullivan as saying at a briefing.
His deputy Jon Finer said the trip was preceded by several months' planning.
"This visit was meticulously planned over a period of months, involving several offices in the White House [...] as well as a small number of colleagues from the Pentagon, the Secret Service, and of course, the intelligence community," Finer said.
He said that Biden was informed about every stage of the plan and any possible unforeseen circumstances. The president made the final decision after a meeting at his Oval Office.
Finer also said that high-ranking Ukrainian government officials were involved in White House preparations for the visit.
On Monday Biden visited Kiev for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky.