Beijing, May 5 (Xinhua) According to foreign media reports, on the 4th local time, US President Biden said that he hoped to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Europe in June.
According to reports, on the same day, after Biden delivered a speech on the COVID-19 epidemic at the White House, when the media asked whether he planned to meet with Putin during his European visit in June, he said, "This is my hope and expectation, and we are working hard."
Biden will attend the G-7 summit in Britain from June 11th to 13th, and then go to Brussels, Belgium, to attend the NATO summit. This will be his first visit since he took office in January.
According to the report, Biden and Putin had a telephone conversation on April 13th, and the White House subsequently announced that they would hold a summit in a third country in the coming months. On April 28th, Russian Presidential Press Secretary peskov said that Putin and Biden may meet in the summer, but the time and place have not yet been determined.
US Secretary of State Blinken said recently that the possible face-to-face talks between Biden and Putin will be beneficial to both countries. He added that the United States does not want relations with Russia to deteriorate, but it will also respond to those unfriendly measures.
In recent years, US-Russian relations have been constantly tense. Since Biden took office, the two sides have achieved limited cooperation in the field of arms control, but there are obvious differences on Ukraine, cyber security, human rights, election intervention and other issues, and the confrontation has intensified.
On April 15, the US government imposed large-scale sanctions on Russia and expelled 10 Russian diplomats on the grounds of "malicious activities" such as cyber attacks and interference in US elections. On the 21st, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of 10 American diplomats in Russia in response.
On April 26th, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Zacharova announced that the United States was included in the list of "unfriendly countries", and the countries on the list were not allowed to hire Russian citizens to work in their diplomatic institutions.