Kremlin says Biden in phone call told Putin he wanted to normalise ties

The Kremlin said U.S. President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Tuesday that he wanted to normalise bilateral ties and to cooperate on arms control, Iran’s nuclear programme, Afghanistan and climate change.

It also confirmed that Biden had proposed a high level meeting with Putin, but gave no indication of how the Russian leader had responded to that suggestion.

The Kremlin said in the same readout that the call had taken place at Washington’s initiative and that Putin had explained his views on eastern Ukraine where a simmering conflict has escalated.

The White House gave its own readout of the call earlier on Tuesday.