US President Joseph Biden held a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, April 12. The two presidents discussed regional and global issues, including the intention of the United States and Russia to maintain cooperation on strategic stability in the area of arms control and security. In particular, the presidents also touched upon issues related to the extension of the strategic arms reduction treaty. This was reported on the White House website.
President Biden made it clear that the United States would act firmly to protect its national interests in response to Russia's aggressive actions such as cyberattacks and election interference.
The head of the United States stressed out USA's unwavering commitment to preserving Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Joe Biden expressed concern over the unexpected build-up of Russian troops in the "occupied Crimea" and near Ukraine's borders and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions.
President Biden noted that his goal is to build a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, in line with US interests. He proposed to hold a meeting of the leaders of the United States and Russia on the territory of a third country in the coming months to discuss the entire range of issues that the United States and Russia are facing.
The message about the telephone conversation between the two presidents was posted on the Kremlin's website. The message says that the conversation took place at the initiative of the American side.
"Joseph Biden confirmed the previous invitation to the President of Russia to take part in the Climate Summit, which will be held by videoconference on April 22-23," the press release says. "Both sides expressed their readiness to continue the dialogue on vital directions to ensure global security, which would be in line with the interests of not only Russia and the United States, but the entire world community."
According to the Kremlin, Biden "expressed interest in normalizing the state of affairs on the bilateral track, as well as in establishing stable and predictable communication on such acute problems as strategic stability and arms control, the Iranian nuclear program, the state of affairs in Afghanistan, and global climate change."
It is worthy of note that the Kremlin press release does not contain information about the readiness of the United States to unwaveringly fight for the preservation of Ukraine's sovereignty, about USA's strong determination to counter Russian cyber attacks and about the military buildup in the "occupied Crimea."
The telephone conversation between the two presidents took place for the first time after Biden's 'killer' remarks about Vladimir Putin.
The Russian ruble started rising in value against the background of reports about the telephone conversation between Putin and Biden. The dollar fell by 1.2 rubles to 76.16 rubles as of 18:53, according to data from the Moscow Exchange. The news had a positive impact not only on the exchange rate of the Russian currency, but also on the stock market, RBC reports. Following the announcement of the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Russian stock market indices started rising.