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Putin and Biden held a phone call - White House

The talks ended at 00:25 Moscow time

WASHINGTON, December 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden started their phone call at 15:35 Washington time (23:35 Moscow time), a White House representative told journalist Thursday.

"The phone call between President Biden and President Putin began at 13:35 Eastern Time," the representative said.

The talks between President Biden and President Putin ended at 4:25 p.m. Eastern Time (00:25 Moscow Time, on Friday), the press service of the White House said.

Currently, Biden is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he spends the weekends. Earlier, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS that the talks between the two leaders began on time. They were held behind closed doors.

This is the second conversation between the presidents over the past month. On December 7, Putin and Biden negotiated for two hours via video linkup. The sides focused on the situation around Ukraine, touched upon bilateral relations, cyber security and the Iranian nuclear deal.

The talks were initiated by Putin. According to Peskov, the leaders planned to resume discussing the issues that were on agenda of the previous talks and of the negotiations scheduled for January 2022. Spokesperson and Senior Director for Press at National Security Council Emily Horne stated that Biden planned to discuss a number of topics with Putin, including upcoming diplomatic contacts with Russia.

On January 10, the talks between Russia and the US are planned in Geneva. Furthermore, a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is going to take place on January 12, while the talks between the Russian and OSCE representatives will be held on January 13. On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry released draft agreements on security guarantees on the part of the US and NATO. They were handed over to US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried on December 15.

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Vladimir Putin Joseph Biden

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