Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected his summit this week with U.S. President Joe Biden to help establish dialogue between the two countries and to restore personal contacts, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday.
Biden will meet Putin on June 16 in Geneva for a summit amid strained bilateral relations on a wide array of issues.
"To restore our personal contacts, relations, to establish direct dialogue, to create really functioning mechanisms in those areas that represent mutual interests...," Interfax quoted Putin as saying in an excerpt from an interview with state television to be aired later.