Ahead of the summit talks with President Biden, Russian President Putin clarified in a TV interview his government’s stand on the alleged cyberattack said that it was “unfounded accusations” without “evidence or proof”. Putin described the cyberattack accusations as “farcical”. “Where is the proof? It’s becoming farcical,” Putin said, adding, “We have been accused of all kinds of things, election interference, cyberattacks and so on and so forth, and not once, not one time, did they bother to produce any kind of evidence or proof.”

US and Russia relations have been going downhill in recent years with the former Trump administration accusing the regime of cyberattacks.

The US has imposed sanctions on Russia; however, Putin’s regime has withstood the pressure from Western governments over the spying issue.

Russia had earlier said it was ready to hand over cybercriminals to the United States if the Biden administration agreed to do the same, a move hailed by Biden as a sign of “progress.”

Biden had earlier described Putin as a killer as he declared recently, “Autocrats have enormous power, “He’s Vladimir Putin” even as he emphasized that Russia has been behaving “contrary to international norms”.

Meanwhile, Ukraine leader Zelensky said Biden should have met him before Putin as he seeks US support to put down alleged separatists backed by Russia even as the Pentagon had announced a new $150 million package of military assistance for Kiev.