Biden and Putin may hold a meeting.

The two foreign ministries announced on Wednesday that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold a bilateral meeting in Iceland next week as part of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Arctic Council.

According to a statement issued by the Russian ministry, the foreign ministers agreed in a telephone conversation on Wednesday to hold a bilateral meeting in Reykjavik on May 20, during a break in international deliberations. The possibility of holding a possible Russian-American summit was also discussed.

According to Moscow, the phone conversation covered North Korea, the Iranian nuclear program, and “strategic stability.”

The US State Department confirmed that the head of Russian and American diplomacy will hold a bilateral meeting next week in Iceland. The US State Department said in a statement that Anthony Blinken “reaffirmed the determination of US President Joe Biden to protect American citizens and take decisive measures to protect American interests in response to Russian actions that harm the United States and its allies.”

Blinken called on Russia to release the US citizens Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, whom Washington says are unlawfully detained by Moscow.

Bilateral relations have deteriorated in recent years after Washington accused Moscow of election interference, espionage and cyberattacks. The Biden government imposed more sanctions on legal entities linked to Russia in April and expelled six Russian diplomats. Moscow responded by expelling six US diplomats and imposing an entry ban on top US officials.

Despite the reciprocal punitive measures, the two countries are negotiating the possibility of a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden in a third country in June.



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