“President Biden spoke with President Putin earlier this week... He proposed a summit meeting in coming months in a third country in Europe to discuss the full range of issues in our relationship,” the official said. “The Russians have not responded to that, to say whether President Putin will participate in such a summit, but we believe that in the coming months, it will be vital for the two leaders to sit down to discuss the full range of issues facing our relationship.”
Washington wants to be clear it has no desire to be in an “escalation cycle” with Russia after the US administration slapped new sanctions against Moscow and expelled 10 diplomats from the diplomatic mission in Washington earlier on Thursday.