The United States turned down an offer to hold a live conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American leader Joe Biden. The corresponding statement was published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“We state with regret that the American side did not support the proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold a conversation with US President George Biden on March 19 or 22 in the format of an open videoconference to discuss accumulated bilateral problems, as well as topics of strategic stability,” – the statement says.
On March 18, Putin, commenting on criticism from Biden, announced that he was ready to hold an open conversation live with the President of the United States. In particular, he planned to discuss strategic stability, the coronavirus pandemic and regional conflicts with his American counterpart. At the same time, the Russian leader noted that he was going to the taiga at the weekend, and offered to hold talks with Biden either on Friday, March 19, or after his trip.
After that, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Biden had already spoken to Putin, and on March 19, she would be too busy to continue the dialogue live. The US President himself, during his speech on the fight against the spread of coronavirus, ignored the journalist's question about whether he agreed to a conversation with Putin.
