NEW YORK, June 11. /TASS/. A Russia-US summit is crucial for preventing relations between the two countries from deteriorating further, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with CNN on Friday.
According to him, "the poor state of the relationship between our two countries" is the main reason for Putin to meet with Biden.
"A critical level of this relationship that demands a summit between our two countries because this is the only way ... to prevent further degradation of our dialogue," Peskov said, as cited by CNN.
According to the news outlet, the Russian presidential spokesman said earlier that "Putin is not going to Geneva just to appear on the same platform as Biden but because ‘the poor state of relations’ between the US and Russia demands a summit." Peskov added, however, that no final decision had been made yet on Putin’s joint press conference with Biden.
The presidents of Russia and the US will meet in Geneva on June 16. The Russian presidential press service said earlier that Putin and Biden would discuss the prospects for Russia-US relations, strategic stability matters and pressing global issues, including the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and ways to resolve regional conflicts. This will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two heads of state since Biden entered the Oval Office.