Joe Biden has said he “hopes” to meet Vladimir Putin in June.

The president of the United States, Joe Biden said on Tuesday he “hoped” to hold a summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during a trip to Europe in June.

“This is my hope and my expectations”, said the president when asked about it. “We are working on it”he added, without giving more details.

In April, Biden offered his counterpart to hold a meeting in a third country to discuss the growing tensions in Ukraine., the situation of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny – currently detained – and other points of contention.

It was on the 13th, during a telephone conversation, when Biden proposed that Putin hold “a summit in a third country” in the “coming months” to “discuss all the issues facing the United States and Russia.”, the White House reported on Tuesday.

The proposal coincided with a large deployment of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine, a decision by which the American president asked Putin to “reduce tensions” with the neighboring country.

Although a summit has not been confirmed, Putin’s adviser Yury Ushakov said his planning was underway.

It’s expected that Biden attends a G7 summit in the UK in mid-June, followed by NATO and EU summits in Brussels, which would open the door to the logistics of a separate meeting with Putin.

So many Austria and Finland have expressed interest in hosting the summit.

Beyond possible preparations for the bilateral meeting, tensions between the two countries have increased since Biden took control of executive power. The last related episode took place in April, when Washington expelled 10 Russian diplomats in response to what they say is Russia’s large-scale cyberattack on US computer systems and interference in the 2020 presidential election.

Moscow responded with its own expulsions. However, the administration Biden stressed that he wanted to stabilize the relationship and that Washington and Moscow should cooperate in key areas, like nuclear weapons and the climate crisis.

On a related note, Biden said in his first speech to Congress on Wednesday that He will not seek to come into conflict with Russia or China, although he has promised to stand up to the two powers.

All nations must follow “the same rules”Biden said during a joint session of Congress marked by restrictions on coronaviruses.

After imposing a series of sanctions on Moscow, Biden clarified: “I made it very clear to Putin that we are not looking for escalation but that his actions have consequences.”.

With information from AFP and EFE

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