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President Joe Biden is set to meet his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin next month in Geneva, Switzerland. While the two leaders have spoken previously by phone, the Geneva meeting would be their first face-to-face encounter since Biden took office in Janaury.
The White House confirmed the planned June 16 meeting, stating, “The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the U.S.-Russia relationship.”
The planned meeting comes amid continued strained relations between the U.S. and Russia. In a set of back and forth comments about the one another in March, Biden characterized Putin as “a killer” and Putin responded by challenging Biden to a live-streamed debate and telling Russian media, “I wish him good health. I am saying this without irony or tongue in cheek.”
In April, words turned to sanctions, with the Biden administration announced sanctions and the expulsions of Russian diplomats after it had assessed Russia had interfered in the 2020 election and the widespread SolarWinds hack, which affected U.S. government agencies. Russia retaliated to that round of sanctions by expelling U.S. diplomats from Russia.
Tensions between Russia and the U.S. also rose amid a weeks-long Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian border. While Russia eventually declared the troop buildup was just part of a routine readiness drill, and said Russian troops have since returned to their home bases, a May report indicated some 80,000 Russian troops remained only a short distance from the Ukrainian border.
Despite adding other new sanctions, the BBC reported last week that the Biden administration did waive a separate set of sanctions, allowing a Russian gas pipeline project with Germany, known as Nord Stream 2, to progress.
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