POLITICS

US, Russian presidents to hold closed video meeting on Dec. 7

Kremlin spokesman says neither live broadcasting nor news conference or press briefing planned following meeting

Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. AA

H. J. I. / AA

A video meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden will be held on Tuesday at around 6 p.m. Moscow time (1500GMT), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Monday.

The whole meeting will be closed, there will be no live broadcast, while a video of the first minutes of the meeting will be shared on the Kremlin website, Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

- We believe that this will be a sufficiently thorough and lengthy video conference, held via a secure line of communication. We think that it will be lengthy in time - he said.

Putin and Biden will discuss tensions around Ukraine, NATO's advance to the Russian borders, and Moscow's demand to provide guarantees about the alliance's non-expansion, and implementation of the agreements reached during the Geneva summit in June.

The meeting is expected to be a direct conversation between the two leaders, but Peskov admitted that some other officials can also take part in it.

Following the meeting, the Kremlin press service will publish a routine statement and Putin does not plan to hold a news conference or any other press events, he said.