US President Joe Biden will hold a press conference alone after his meeting, Wednesday, in Geneva with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the White House announced Saturday.
“We hope this meeting will provide an opportunity for frank and direct discussions,” a US government official said.
The White House sees a “one-on-one” press conference as the “appropriate forum” to talk about topics that have been clearly covered, about potential rapprochement, or about issues that are “real concerns” for the United States.
The US official explained that the meeting will include a working session and a mini-session, without revealing more details about the latter.
Talks between the two presidents are expected to be tough over Ukraine, Belarus, the fate of jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and cyber attacks. The White House has confirmed for weeks that it seeks to make relations between the two countries more “stable and predictable” of its developments.
The joint press conference that followed the meeting of former US President Donald Trump and Putin in Helsinki in July 2018 is still fresh in everyone’s minds in Washington.
Trump then sided with the former Soviet intelligence man, in a strange behavior that caused an uproar even within his own party, over the discovery by the US intelligence services that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
