US President, Joe Biden, is expected to meet in-person for the first time since taking office with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva on June 16.
The meeting, which was disclosed by the White House on Tuesday, became necessary over the growing concern of the decline in the relationship between the two countries.
Some of the issues both countries have disagreed about in the past, include a recent Russian military buildup near the Ukrainian border, the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader, Alexei Navalny; interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and the SolarWinds hack.
“The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the U.S.-Russia relationship,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
The statement added that Biden would seek to restore “predictability and stability” to the U.S.-Russia relationship and would discuss with Putin a number of pressing issues including strategic stability, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on nuclear weapons control, and Ukraine.
Psaki said Biden would also convey his “grave concerns” to Putin over Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Russia ally, who forced a commercial airline to land in Belarus on Sunday in order to detain an opposition journalist.
Meanwhile, Biden had earlier hinted that he would meet Putin over the recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, which shutdown the country’s largest gas pipeline and led to a gas shortage in the Southeast.
