Moscow on Wednesday commented that it was not surprised by the long delay in a in-person meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, citing the highly strained relations between the two nations during the time of former US President Joe Biden.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this in reaction to an analysis pointing out that, in modern Russian history, for the first time a US-Russia summit did not occur even more than six months following a new American President coming into office.
Traditionally, the type of top-level encounter between the leaders of the two countries was normally within one to five months after a presidential inauguration. Nevertheless, according to a Russian state news agency TASS report, six months and 16 days have elapsed since Trump took office, and no direct meeting with President Putin has yet taken place.
"It is doubtful that it's possible to talk about some special situation. After all, during the last (US) administration, our bilateral relations went through an unprecedented crisis," Peskov claimed.
He added that under Biden's leadership, Moscow and Washington experienced a accumulation of what he called an "unprecedented number of irritants" in their bilateral ties.
In the meantime, US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Wednesday for negotiations with Russian authorities, as tensions rise following an approaching deadline on new US sanctions.
The diplomatic visit by Witkoff comes as bilateral ties continue to be strained.
President Trump has also recently insisted that Russia may face new sanctions on or before August 9 if a solution to the current conflict in Ukraine is not found.
