Biden, Putin to meet in Geneva on June 16
US president Joe Biden will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a highly anticipated summit in Geneva on June 16, amid disputes between the two countries over election interference, cyberattacks and events in Ukraine.
It will mark Biden's first meeting with Putin as president. Points of contention that could come up in the discussions include the SolarWinds cyberattacks in the US discovered in December, alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections and a recent buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border.
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The two men might also touch on Nord Stream 2, Russia's embattled pipeline project in the Baltic Sea. Biden's administration has said it will refrain from imposing further sanctions on Nord Stream 2, in the interest of maintaining relations with Germany, although it is yet to indicate it will lift the existing sanctions against the project.
Putin announced on June 4 that pipelaying work on the first of Nord Stream 2's two strings had been completed. Russia is hopeful of launching the pipeline later this year.
The last meeting between the Russian and US leaders took place in Helsinki in 2018, between Putin and former US president Donald Trump.