Biden to press Putin on respecting human rights in Geneva

Wilmington (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday said that he will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect human rights when the two leaders meet in June.

During a speech honoring the U.S. holiday Memorial Day, Biden said, “I’m meeting with President Putin in a couple weeks in Geneva making it clear we will not, we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights.”

The White House said on Friday it was planning to move ahead with the summit between the two leaders after Microsoft flagged a cyberattack on U.S. government agencies by Nobelium, the group behind last year’s SolarWind hack that originated from Russia.

The Kremlin has said it has no information about the latest attack.

In announcing the June 16 meeting, the White House said the two leaders will discuss a range of issues with the goal of restoring “predictability and stability” in the Washington-Moscow relationship.

It comes amid strained relations over U.S. election interference that Moscow denies, cyberattacks and Ukraine.