Kremlin says Biden must change position towards Russia to resume contacts with Putin

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Kremlin has said that US President Joe Biden must change Washington’s position towards Moscow to resume contacts with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

“The collapse of the entire basis of Russian-American relations occurred at the initiative of the Americans. Therefore, at a minimum, the head of the US will have to change his position at some time and take a more constructive position regarding bilateral relations, and then the conditions for such a meeting will mature,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel reporter Pavel Zarubin, a fragment of which was shared on Sunday.

In response to a question regarding under what conditions contacts between Putin and Biden could take place, Peskov said that this must firstly be with “mutual desire, mutual readiness” and that certain conditions must mature.

He further said Putin has repeatedly expressed readiness for any contacts, adding that Russia and the US will have to resume talks between each other “one way or another.”

“Relations are at zero or, I would say, even below zero. But all the same, since both America and we bear a special responsibility for global stability and strategic stability, one way or another we will have to resume this conversation over time,” the Kremlin spokesman said.