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Moscow hopes Geneva to convey responsibility of upcoming summit to Washington - diplomat

Answering a question why Geneva was chosen as the location of the summit and whether there is any symbolism involved; Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov noted that Geneva is one of the global diplomatic capital

MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Moscow expects that the symbolism of the Geneva negotiations venue, which hosted many significant negotiations, would help the US side to feel the responsibility of the upcoming summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview.

Answering a question why Geneva was chosen as the location of the summit and whether there is any symbolism involved; Ryabkov noted that Geneva is one of the global diplomatic capitals. He also noted the high level of infrastructure and the local authorities’ experience in hosting highest-level meeting.

"The other side is, of course, symbolic: there are parallels of various kinds, various bilateral Russian-American contacts come to mind, but that is not all. Yes, I believe that this is a good choice," Ryabkov said. "We will expect that this would make it possible to establish a proper environment and would help our American colleagues to feel at the height of responsibility of the moment."

Earlier, the Kremlin disclosed that the two leaders will discuss the current state and future perspectives of Russian-US relations, the topic of strategic stability, as well as current issues of international agenda, including cooperation in combating the coronavirus pandemic. This will be the first meeting between Putin and Biden since the latter’s assumption of office as the US president.