Finland offered to host a final summit between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and announced the Finnish presidency on Friday, while Austria announced it was ready as well.

The office of Finnish President Sule told AFP that the Scandinavian country, where a summit between former US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was already held in 2018, “has informed Washington and Moscow that it is” ready to organize “the meeting.

On Tuesday, in a phone call with Putin, the US president proposed holding a summit “in a third country” and “in the coming months,” in the context of tensions between the two powers.

Austria also said on Friday it was ready to host the meeting if Washington and Moscow wanted to.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry told AFP that the country “is always available naturally to host high-level interviews of all kinds. Both sides know we are ready.”

On Thursday, Biden announced a series of financial sanctions against Russia and the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats, which provoked a reaction from Moscow, but he also renewed his proposal to hold a summit with Putin to facilitate “de-escalation.” In tensions.

The United States would like to hold the summit in Europe “this summer.”

Finland is not a member of NATO and maintains good diplomatic relations with Russia.

sgk / po / spm / jvb-me / mar