Put-in the diary: Biden to meet Russian President in June
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will meet in Geneva for face-to-face talks next month.
The meeting will be the first since Biden took the Presidency in January 2021.
The White House said the conversation would touch on “the full range of pressing issues,” with relations between the two sour.
Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had a closer relationship with the Russian leader than almost all other Western leaders.
Read more: Bill Browder: Navalny has sparked something – the West shouldn’t stand by
But despite any personal amity, relations between the US and Russia are at their lowest ebb since the end of the Cold War.
Putin’s ever-growing aggression on Russia’s borders, including a de facto invasion of Ukraine, has been matched by extra-territorial clandestine activities, not least the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal via poisoning in Salisbury.
Biden’s administration has already levied a host of sanctions against Russian officials.
The new American leader will meet Putin at the end of his first overseas trip, with stops in Cornwall for a G7 meeting and Brussels for a NATO Summit.
Despite stretched relations over Brexit, the UK and US relationship has become closer in recent months as Biden and Boris Johnson’s response to Russian and Chinese aggression have coalesced.
Read more: MI6 boss: UK warned Putin he would pay ‘huge price’ if he invaded Ukraine