Putin: There’s hope for resolving outstanding issues with the US

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he had “no illusions after his summit with his US counterpart Joe Biden.

However, there is a glimmer of hope for building mutual trust and agreement to resolve all outstanding issues with the United States.”

Putin stressed during a press conference held after his meeting with Biden in the Swiss city of Geneva that the meeting contradicted strategic stability, trade relations, regional security, and cybersecurity.

He pointed out that “the two sides expressed a desire to find ways to bring the positions closer.”

He noted that he “agreed with Biden to resume the work of diplomatic missions between the two countries, and to start consultations between the Russian and American foreign ministries on all areas of cooperation, foremost of which is cybersecurity.”

He pointed out that “most of the cyber attacks in the world are carried out from inside the United States.”

“Washington has declared Russia its enemy, and both countries are suffering the losses of sanctions,” he added.

On Ukraine, Putin said, “We have only one commitment to Ukraine, and that is to implement the Minsk agreements if Kyiv is ready.”

Putin also addressed the issue of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying that he “violated the law, and wanted to be arrested when he came to Russia.”

On January 17, the Russian authorities arrested Navalny, 44, upon his arrival at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow from Germany, where he spent 5 months for treatment.

On February 2, the judiciary sentenced Navalny to 3 and a half years in prison, with enforcement, in a “fraud case in which a suspended sentence was previously issued against him.”

From time to time, clashes erupt in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

And those who declared their independence in 2014, which led to the killing of more than 13,000 since then until today.

In February 2015, the warring parties in eastern Ukraine reached a ceasefire agreement in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

It requires the withdrawal of heavy weapons and foreign forces from Ukraine, in addition to Ukraine’s control of its entire border with Russia by the end of 2015, which has not yet been achieved.