Biden refuses to talk to Putin
The United States did not support Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to hold an urgent conversation with President Joe Biden to discuss the bilateral problems and strategic stability, said the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Earlier, Putin instructed the Russian Foreign Ministry to reach out to the White House to organize an open discussion with Biden on March 18 or March 22.
"Another opportunity to find a way out of the deadlock created by Washington in Russian-American relations has been missed," the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that "responsibility for this lies entirely with the United States."
Putin suggested to Biden that they have a discussion after the US President indirectly called him a "killer", when commenting on Alexei Navalny’s poisoning.
Putin responded by wishing Biden health and said, " whoever calls names gets called those names". The Russian president added that this children's saying contains "deep psychological meaning."
Putin said that he was flying to Siberia with Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu over the weekend but wanted to talk to Biden on his free days- Friday, March 19, or Monday, March 22.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Biden was busy on Friday, and the U.S. president himself expressed confidence that the conversation with Putin would take place "at the right time."
Putin and Biden had their first and only phone conversation on January 26, six days after the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States.
According to the Kremlin press service, Putin congratulated Biden on the victory, which Russia refused to recognize after the preliminary election results.
Putin also said that "the normalization of relations between Russia and the United States would be in the interests of both countries and - given their special responsibility to maintain security and stability in the world - the entire international community."
Biden said he made it "clear" to the Russian president that the new administration has no intention of pursuing Donald Trump's concession policy.
He demanded that Navalny be released "immediately" and "without preconditions". Biden said that Navalny was in jail for "uncovering corruption," and vowed "to increase pressure on Russia without any hesitation".