The Kremlin Assessed the Biden-Putin Summit with a Plus Sign

The Geneva talks between the leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States helped them understand areas in which they can and cannot yet interact, Peskov says. The Kremlin believes that the summit of Russian and US presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden was positive. The meeting held on Thursday, June 17, was assessed by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov on the air of the Ekho Moskvy radio station. "But now we can say, primarily based on the assessment by the president himself, that the summit was more with a plus sign," he said, recalling that the Kremlin had warned against exaggerated expectations in connection with the meeting. According to him, the meeting was productive "from the point of view that the leaders had the opportunity to directly air their positions to each other, to more or less understand where it is possible to interact and where at the moment the interaction will not work due to the categorical divergence of views." "This happened, and this is also a plus," he stressed. Peskov also noted the joint document adopted by the presidents. "Even though it is a very short text, but nevertheless a joint statement on strategic stability is probably exactly the way in which the special responsibility of our two countries is realized not only to our people, no matter how pathetic it sounds, but to the whole world," he pointed out. According to Peskov, the leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States discussed the possibility of recreating the mechanism following the example of the dialogue on Ukraine, which was conducted several years ago by Vladislav Surkov and Kurt Volker, who served as Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and Special Representative of the US State Department. He also noted the positive that the United States does not directly blame the Russian authorities for the latest cyber attacks. "As to the cybersecurity, an understanding of what should be said was stated, and this is extremely important. Agreements have not been reached, and could not be reached, no one had such objectives," Peskov said. He added that in the near future a mechanism of expert dialogue on cybersecurity issues will be launched, where attacks, and the general level of cyber threats, and issues in the field of critical infrastructure will be discussed in detail. In addition, Peskov said that the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, is expected to return to Washington in the coming days. The Kremlin spokesman also noted the presidents' dialogue on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program, Moscow expects a full return to the implementation of the agreement. Peskov also pointed out that the dialogue between the military of the Russian Federation and the United States in Syria is very important, it needs to be supported. The presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States also touched upon the situation in Afghanistan. Lastly, Peskov said that the holding of the next meeting between Putin and Biden had not been discussed yet. Recall, the day before a meeting of the American and Russian leaders took place, following which Biden and Putin gave separate press conferences.