Russia expects no breakthroughs at Putin-Biden summit — Lavrov

Moscow does not expect that some breakthrough agreements will be achieved at the forthcoming summit meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the international forum of experts, diplomats and decision-makers Primakov Readings on Wednesday.

"We have no exaggerated expectations, no illusions [regarding the summit] that some breakthroughs are due. But there is an objective need for an exchange of opinions at the summit level as to what threats Russia and the United States as two major nuclear powers in the international scene see in front of them," Lavrov said.

As the Kremlin said earlier, at the first face-to-face meeting in Geneva on June 16 the Russian and US leaders will discuss the current condition of Russian-US relations and the outlook for their development, strategic stability and also crucial issues on the international agenda, including cooperation in the struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. It will be the first personal Putin-Biden meeting since the latter took office.