White House Says 'Nothing To Report' On Putin's Offer To Talk To Biden - Spokesperson

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2021) White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Thursday that she has nothing to report on a possible conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden.

Putin had invited the US president to talk live on Friday or Monday. Putin noted that he planned to spend the weekend in the taiga.

"I'll have to get back to you if that is something we are entertaining... I don't have anything to report to you. And in terms of a future meeting, the president will of course be in Georgia tomorrow and quite busy," Psaki said when asked about Putin's offer. "The President already had a conversation with President Putin even as there are more world leaders that he has not yet engaged with, and we engaged with Russian leaders, members of the government at all levels."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he would instruct the Russian Foreign Ministry to work out the issue of holding a live conversation with his US counterpart Joe Biden.

Putin said Russia and the United States share the responsibility for strategic stability, this could be discussed with Biden.

On Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Russian ambassador to US Anatoly Antonov was invited to Moscow for consultations in order to analyze what needs to be done in the context of relations with the United States.

The ambassador is set to travel to Russia on Saturday.

Antonov was recalled for consultations after Biden said during an interview with ABC news that Putin would "pay a price" for allegedly meddling in the US 2020 election. Biden also asked if he believed Putin to be a "killer," to which he answered affirmatively. These statements prompted a response from the Russian lower house chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin, who described Biden's statements as histrionic.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Biden's comments were "very bad statements" and noted that Russia assumes the US president certainly does not seek mending ties.

Peskov qualified the relations between Moscow and Washington as "very poor", also noting that finding ways to mend ties falls outside the Kremlin's mandate.

Moscow will not act to worsen bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.