US, Russia discuss potential presidential summit

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US and Russian national security advisors discussed on Monday the potential to hold a presidential-level summit amid heavily-strained relations.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev "discussed a number of issues in the bilateral relationship, as well as regional and global matters of concern," spokeswoman Emily Horne said in a statement.

She did not elaborate on specific issues amid US calls for Russia to end its military buildup on the Ukrainian border, and last week's sweeping sanctions imposed on Moscow for a large-scale cyber attack the US estimates affected 16,000 computer systems, including those of federal agencies.

US President Joe Biden has proposed a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this summer in Europe in a bid to ease diplomatic relations, and Horne said Sullivan and Patrushev "discussed the prospect" for holding the meeting.

While the Kremlin has not formally accepted or rejected the offer, it has remained opened to the possibility.

Monday's call comes one day after Sullivan warned Russia that if jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies in prison, Moscow "will be held accountable by the international community."

"In terms of the specific measures that we would take, we are looking at a variety of different costs that we would impose and I'm not going to telegraph that publicly at this point," Sullivan told CNN on Sunday. "But we have communicated that there will be consequences if Mr. Navalny dies."

Navalny’s supporters told the press earlier this weekend that he was “dying,” and said his medical condition was rapidly deteriorating due to a hunger strike he began three weeks ago in protest of the Russian authorities’ refusal on granting him medical care.