Putin-Biden Summit Not To Bring Big Changes, Russia Says

Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country does not expect substantial changes in the Moscow-Washington relations after the summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva on June 16.

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"We are under no illusions and we are not trying to create the impression that there will be big changes or some kind of historic or significant decision," he said.

However, "the very fact of the conversation of the presidents of the major nuclear powers is important, and it is something to support by all means," Lavrov pointed out.

He also explained that the two presidents should exchange views on the threats "that each side sees around their countries and in the international arena".

In a similar vein, Deputy Chairman of the Kremlin's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that the Russia-US summit will at least make it possible to discuss the most complex and contentious issues between the two countries. 

"We need stable, mutually beneficial, and good neighborly relations with the European Union and the United States... Over the last few years, these relations worsened dramatically. And it was not our initiative," Medvedev recalled.

In mid-March, tensions between the Kremlin and the White House escalated after Biden called Putin a "murderer." In response to that statement, Russia recalled its ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov for consultations. The Kremlin also asked U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan to leave the country.

For its part, the Biden administration ordered the expulsion of ten diplomats and published a blacklist of high-ranking Russian officials allegedly involved in cyber espionage.