MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Moscow and Washington realize that contacts between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States must persist, but there’s no definite time set for a new meeting between the leaders yet, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
"There’s an understanding that the meeting is necessary, that contacts between the two presidents are needed, and that the contacts must be continued. But there’s no definite time yet," he said in response to a question about a potential new summit between Putin and Biden.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Joe Biden discussed Russian-US contacts at the top level on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Rome. Lavrov later said in an interview that the US president stressed his desire for further contacts with the Russian counterpart and sent him his best wishes.
Peskov earlier said that both Moscow and Washington are interested in setting up direct contacts between the presidents in the near future. However, he said the options for the timing of the meeting were yet to be fixed. The White House isn’t ready to say yet if the new meeting between the two leaders will take place this year.
Putin and Biden last met for talks in Geneva on June 16. It was their first meeting as heads of state and the first Russian-US summit since 2018. The leaders said in a joint statement that the sides were going to start a comprehensive bilateral dialog for strategic stability that would be substantive and vigorous. Moscow and Washington also agreed to start consultations on cybersecurity, prisoner exchange and arms control.