Biden and Putin to hold their first summit on June 16 in Geneva

Washington: The White House on Tuesday informed that US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin would hold their first summit in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16.

"The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the US-Russia relationship," the White House said.

"We intend to discuss the state of and the prospects for the further development of Russian-US relations, strategic stability issues, as well as topical issues on the international agenda, including interaction in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the settlement of regional conflicts," Kremlin said in its statement.

Washington and Moscow's relations have been difficult in recent years due to differences on issues of Ukraine, cybersecurity, human rights, and US election interference. However, following consultations of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan with Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolay Patrushev, the White House, in a joint statement, said, "The sides agreed that a normalisation of US-Russian relations would be in the interest of both countries and contribute to global predictability and stability,"

As per the Kremlin, the summit was proposed by Biden in a phone conversation with Putin on April 13. This will be Biden's first meeting with Putin as President.