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Putin-Biden meeting in Geneva

Germany requests Biden include disarmament on agenda of upcoming Putin summit

Earlier, the Kremlin announced that the Russian and US leaders would discuss the state and the prospects of bilateral relations, strategic stability, and pressing issues on the international agenda, including interaction in the anti-coronavirus fight

BERLIN, June 9. /TASS/. The German authorities would like Russia and the United States to discuss the disarmament issue at the upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his US counterpart Joe Biden in Geneva, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday.

Berlin has conveyed its wishes to the Americans, he said in the Bundestag, replying to German lawmakers’ questions.

"As a whole, as we have told our American partners, we would like to include the disarmament issue on the agenda if the Putin-Biden summit takes place," he said.

Replying to a question about when Germany would get rid of US nuclear weapons from its territory, Maas said that "this will not happen in the current legislative period."

The Kremlin earlier announced that at their first face-to-face meeting on June 16 in Geneva, the Russian and US leaders would discuss the state and the prospects of bilateral relations, strategic stability, and pressing issues on the international agenda, including interaction in the anti-coronavirus fight. This will be the first personal encounter between Putin and Biden since the newly-elected US president assumed office.

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