The Kremlin is ready to hold a joint press conference of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden at the end of the Russian-American summit in Geneva, but a decision has not yet been made.
This was stated in an interview with CNN Dmitry Peskov - spokesman for the Russian president.
Asked why Putin agreed to meet with Biden, Peskov said the Russian president was going to Geneva because "relations between Russia and the United States are bad," not to be in the same room with his American counterpart.
The first Russian-American summit after Putin's talks with Donald Trump in Helsinki in July 2018 is scheduled for June 16 in Geneva.
The trip to Geneva will be the Russian leader's first visit abroad since January 2020, when he visited Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Back at the end of May 31, Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO is striving to improve relations with Russia. According to him, it is necessary to maintain a dialogue, which is even more important in the current conditions. He spoke about this at a press conference before the meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the NATO member states, which took place on June 1.
The NATO Secretary-General stressed that the Alliance intends to continue its policy of a double approach towards Moscow. "We will continue our bi-directional policy towards Russia, which is that we provide sufficient protection (NATO countries -" Profile "), but at the same time we work to maintain a meaningful dialogue with Russia. We believe in dialogue," said Stoltenberg.
The politician stressed that even if relations between NATO and Russia cannot be improved, it is still necessary to maintain a dialogue. It is needed in order to ensure transparency and prevent dangerous incidents, TASS reports, citing Stoltenberg's words.
Earlier, the NATO Secretary-General said that Russia is behaving aggressively despite the fact that the West offers dialogue, so the alliance is introducing measures to contain it. He explained the essence of the bilateral approach to Russia, assuring that NATO does not want a cold war.
At the same time, in Ukraine, they talked about a "nightmare" over the meeting between Putin and Biden.
Political scientist Bondarenko told RIA Novosti about Ukraine's "nightmare" over the meeting between Putin and Joe Biden.
The meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin, and Joe Biden, could turn into a "nightmare" for Ukraine, political scientist and director of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics Kost (Konstantin) Bondarenko said in his article in Glavred.
According to the expert, most of all in Kiev they are worried about how the conversation between the two leaders may end. "In this situation, there is only one question - will the US give Ukraine an order to fulfill the Minsk agreements or will it say to continue imitating the implementation process," Bondarenko said.
According to the political scientist, Biden's determination to insist on Ukraine's implementation of the agreements will depend on how much he manages to defuse the situation with Putin. If certain agreements are reached, Washington may begin to put pressure on Kiev, forcing them to implement these Minsk agreements, Bondarenko expressed his opinion, adding that from the moment the agreements were signed, it was the United States that instructed Ukraine to pretend that it adheres to them.
According to the results of the bilateral summit, Washington may set a deadline for the implementation of agreements for Kiev, the political scientist continued. "It will become a nightmare for the Ukrainian authorities - if Washington begins to force Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements," he stressed.
At the same time, Bondarenko added that if Ukraine is forced to implement the Minsk agreements in their current form, Kiev can establish closer contacts with Great Britain and "ignore the US position", taking steps to please London, not Washington, as well as creating regional blocs, to for example, with the participation of Turkey.
"However, in any situation and in any scenario, the fate of a non-subject state will await us, which will be manipulated in the interests of major players.
In order not to be manipulated, we need to become strong and adults ourselves, "the expert concluded.
Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden will meet next week on Wednesday. The Kremlin emphasized that it does not expect "much" from the talks because of the existing disagreements between Russia and the United States. The presidents are expected to discuss Russian-American relations, strategic stability, the fight against COVID-19, and the settlement of regional conflicts.
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