Putin and Biden may meet in June

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, may meet in June, the Russian Information Agency said on Sunday, citing an aide to the Kremlin, amid an escalation of tension between Moscow and the West.

Foreign policy advisor Yury Ushakov said that no firm decision had yet been taken about the meeting.

“We will make a decision based on many factors,” Ushakov, who was Russia’s ambassador to the United States between 1998 and 2008, was quoted as saying.

The agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying, on Sunday, that his country had received Biden’s proposal on the summit in a “positive” way and that it is under study at the present time.

The Russian daily Kommersant also quoted unnamed sources as saying that Biden had offered Putin to meet on June 15 and 16 in a European country.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Putin held a summit with former US President Donald Trump in Helsinki in July 2018.

Biden this month called on Putin to reduce the tension raised by Russian military reinforcements on Ukraine’s borders, and proposed a summit to address a range of differences.

The Kremlin said at the time that holding a summit would depend on the behavior of the United States, and there were reports that the Kremlin asked Washington to cancel a plan to impose new sanctions on Russia.

Putin participated in a hypothetical climate summit Biden hosted last week.