"Restore personal contacts, establish direct dialogue": Putin spoke about expectations from a meeting with Biden

Vladimir Putin spoke about expectations from the upcoming meeting with the head of the White House, Joe Biden.

Speaking about the "minimal positive result" of the summit, he noted that the parties need to restore contacts.

“To restore our personal contacts, relations, establish a direct dialogue, create really functioning mechanisms of interaction in those areas that represent mutual interests,” the president said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin in the Moscow.

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The Russian leader reiterated that a number of issues are of mutual interest for Russia and the United States, in particular, strategic stability, the solution of regional conflicts and concern for the environment in a global sense.

According to him, "there are questions where we can really work effectively."

“If after this meeting we create mechanisms for working in all these areas, I think it would be good.

One could say that the meeting was not in vain, ”the Russian president said.

Putin separately noted the extension of the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START III).

“The new administration, led by President Biden, extended START III as a first step.

I think this is a very important step, ”the Russian leader said.

At the same time, Putin urged not to flatter oneself by reducing the negative rhetoric from the United States towards Russia on the eve of the summit.

According to him, on the eve of the summit meetings, both sides are trying to reduce tensions in order to create a favorable environment.

The President called this a manifestation of the "professional approach" on the part of the United States.

“For our part, we are also doing this,” Putin stressed.

Commenting on the upcoming meeting of the two leaders, Natalya Eremina, professor of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University, said that the summit meeting between the leaders of the two nuclear states is “categorically important”.

“This is a defining moment that other players associate with how the world will develop in the future, with issues of security, with issues of interaction in the field of such topical issues.

This is not only ecology, it is also the issues of security and the fight against terrorism.

These are questions of local interaction, when we talk about the exchange of information, for example, between secret services, ”said Eremina.

She noted that in this context, everyone is interested in the upcoming meeting.

“To show that the leaders are just ready to sit down and talk is enough to relieve the degree of tension, so that this intensity of passions, probably, at least somehow to reduce,” the specialist concluded.

Meeting in Geneva

Recall that on June 16, a meeting of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden will take place in Geneva.

Earlier, the Kremlin said that the leaders intend to discuss issues of strategic stability, the development of bilateral ties, the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and regional conflicts.

The leaders agreed to meet at the initiative of the American side during a telephone conversation that took place in April.

Note that the previous summit of Moscow and Washington at the level of heads of state was held in 2018 in Helsinki.

Villa La Grange in Geneva will become a new venue for negotiations between the heads of Russia and the United States.

As stated in the Kremlin, during the summit, both a tête-à-tête dialogue between the two leaders and communication with the participation of members of delegations and assistants should take place.

Also on russian.rt.com With the media in private: Putin and Biden will hold separate press conferences after the summit

After the meeting, Putin and Biden are expected to hold separate press conferences.

In particular, on June 12, a White House representative spoke about the approved details of the upcoming meeting, saying that Washington "has a plan for holding a working session and session in a narrower format, as well as a separate press conference by President Biden after the meeting."

As noted in the White House, a separate press conference is a suitable format to convey information to the media about areas where the parties may have agreement, as well as areas where "there are serious reasons for concern."

Subsequently, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, indicated that after the talks, Putin will also talk to the press separately.

“Most likely, this is the practice of the American president.

As we know, the US President also held a separate press conference in England.

They did not hold a joint press conference with Boris Johnson, ”the Kremlin spokesman explained.