There has been no direct contact between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin since Russia went to full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
From de to confirmed their participation at the Bali G20 summit in November, this was expected to happen.
Iver B. Neumann, researcher and director of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told a The newspaper who hopes and believes that they will be interested in holding informal meetings on this matter.
Now reporting Politic that the White House is taking “all possible steps” to avoid direct contact between the two heads of state during the summit.
– He smells blood
– He’ll avoid meeting in the corridors
The US president opened last week to meet with his Russian counterpart at the G20 summit, preferably to discuss the release of Brittney Griner, the American basketball player imprisoned in Russia.
A short time later, Vladimir Putin said he did not “see the need” to speak to Joe Biden.
At the same time, he cryptically answered questions about his participation.
– Russia will certainly participate. As for the format, we are still thinking about it, he told the press during the CIS summit in Kazakhstan.
Politico sources point out that it cannot be ruled out that the two will meet at some point during the G20, but say they have ruled out a formal meeting and are taking steps to ensure that the heads of state do not meet in a corridor or be pictured together. on a group photo.
– We know what President Biden thinks of President Putin; he thinks he’s a killer, a war criminal, William Taylor, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, tells the newspaper.
– You don’t usually meet murderers and war criminals
Planning meeting with Xi
Chinese President Xi Jinping is also likely to attend the November summit. Joe Biden had several video encounters with him there the conflict between China and Taiwan was the topic.
The two then arranged a face-to-face meeting.
It was before Speaker of Congress Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwanand before China strongly opposed the US announcement that it will begin formal trade talks with Taiwan for the first time.
According to Politico, US and Chinese officials have since worked silently to arrange a meeting between the two presidents.
Such a meeting has not been officially announced, and the newspaper’s sources point out that plans for a meeting may still fail.
