Putin had the first telephone conversation with Biden

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with US President Joe Biden, the Kremlin press service reported.

The telephone conversation took place on Tuesday.

“President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Joseph Biden,” the press service said.

“Topical issues of the bilateral and international agenda were discussed,” the message says. Putin congratulated Joe Biden on the start of his presidency.

“Vladimir Putin congratulated Joseph Biden on the beginning of his work as President of the United States. He noted that the normalization of relations between Russia and the United States would meet the interests of both countries and, given their special responsibility for maintaining security and stability in the world, the entire international community,” in the message.

“The possibilities of cooperation were considered in the fight against such an acute problem as the coronavirus pandemic, as well as in other areas, including trade and economic,” the press service said.

Putin and Biden touched upon the topic of the unilateral US withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty.

“Among the international topics were the problems of preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program, the internal Ukrainian settlement, as well as the Russian initiative to hold a summit of permanent members of the UN Security Council,” the Kremlin said.

“On the whole, the conversation between the leaders of Russia and the United States was of a businesslike and frank nature. It was agreed to maintain contacts,” the message says.