President Joe Biden wants to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin face to face, proposing an in-person summit on Tuesday when the duo spoke for the second time since the U.S. president’s inauguration.
Biden proposed to Putin that they meet in a third country “in the coming months” as the leaders work toward “a stable and predictable relationship” that is “consistent” with the United States’s interests, according to a White House readout of the conversation released Tuesday.
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During their discussion, Biden urged Putin to de-escalate tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border, expressing concerns regarding Russian military buildup, particularly in “occupied Crimea.”
“President Biden emphasized the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House statement read. “President Biden also made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia’s actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference.”
Biden and Putin spoke on Jan. 26, five days into Biden’s presidency. The pair’s second call follows Biden’s first talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the start of this month.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday that the administration expected the U.S.-Russia relationship “to remain a challenge,” and was not looking for “an establishment of trust.”
“There are a range of threats, and there are a range of opportunities in the world, and the president wants to have the bandwidth to focus on them and not on an adversarial relationship with Russia,” she said, adding Biden wants to bring some predictability to the relationship.
U.S.-Russian relations have become increasingly strained since 2016, after the intelligence community found evidence that the Kremlin tried to interfere in the two previous election cycles. Biden then angered Putin by calling him a “killer” during an interview last month, prompting the Russian president to insinuate that the president was infirm while challenging him to a live debate. In the same interview, Biden vowed that Russia would “pay a price” for election meddling, but the White House has yet to take decisive action.
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“Well, I would say that what we’ve long said is that there will be some consequences that are seen and some that are unseen. I’m not going to give you a menu of the options. When we’re ready to announce them, we will announce them and share the details with all of you,” Psaki said Monday when asked about the response to Russian aggression along the Ukrainian border.
