Joe Biden ready to meet Vladimir Putin in June, says Moscow

The US President’s G7 agenda could now be overshadowed by a high-stakes meeting with his Russian counterpart.

Vladimir Putin beams into the virtual US-hosted Leaders Summit on Climate last week. Picture: AFP

US President Joe Biden has offered to meet Russian counterpart Valdimr Putin face-to-face in June to defuse escalating tensions between the two nations, a senior Kremlin aide said late on Sunday.

The US leader, who marks his first 100 days in office on Friday, has had to contend with Russia’s aggressive posturing towards Ukraine and its brutal treatment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as the continued fallout from the alleged Russian hacking of American elections and government agencies.

Mr Biden, 78, is expected to attend the G7 summit in Cornwall on June 11-13, followed by a visit to Brussels to meet EU and NATO leaders. His first overseas trip as president will emphasise America’s close ties to its traditional allies after it retreated from its global leadership role under former president Doanld Trump.

That agenda could now be overshadowed by a high-stakes meeting with his Russian counterpart.

When White House press secretary Jen Psaki unveiled the itinerary on Friday (Saturday AEST) she added that there would be “further details to share about this trip soon, including potential additional elements”.

That prompted speculation about a meeting with Mr Putin, which Mr Biden proposed in a phone conversation with the Russian leader two weeks ago.

The call came shortly after he had angered Russia by calling Mr Putin, 68, “a killer”.

Yuri Ushakov, a former Russian ambassador to Washington who now advises Putin on foreign policy, confirmed that an American offer of a meeting was under consideration, although no venue was specified.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and prime minister, said in an article published by state media that relations between the two superpowers had “shifted from rivalry to confrontation”, adding that any improvement in the situation would depend on whether the Biden administration had the “wisdom of compromise”.

Mr Biden’s priorities so far have been domestic: after an early blizzard of executive actions to undo much of Trump’s legacy he turned his attention to defeating the pandemic and reviving the economy, with a secondary focus on race and the climate crisis.

On Friday night the influential left-wing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised his efforts at a virtual town hall meeting, saying he had “exceeded expectations that progressives had. I think a lot of us expected a lot more conservative administration.”

A Washington Post-ABC News poll yesterday (Sunday) found that 52 per cent of Americans approved of the job Biden is doing, with 42 per cent disapproving. With the exception of Donald Trump every president since Gerald Ford has had higher approval at this stage.

The Times