Expert: a possible summit between Russia and the United States should be held in the ” spirit of Elbe”

The leaders of the countries must show a strategic approach and find solutions similar to those adopted by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the Caribbean crisis, said the president of the American University in Moscow, Edward Lozansky.

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A possible summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Joe Biden should be held in the “spirit of Elba”, so that the parties can find many areas for cooperation and strengthen relations between the two countries. This is stated in the article published in the printed version of The Washington Times newspaper by the president of the American University in Moscow, Eduard Lozansky, dedicated to the Victory Day.

He recalled that ” at present, the state of relations between the United States and Russia is at an unprecedented low and dangerous level.” “At the same time, there are many international projects that are beneficial for both sides, in which Americans and Russians could work together for the benefit of both countries and humanity. Therefore, our leaders must show a strategic approach and find solutions similar to those adopted by their predecessors, such as, for example, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, ” said MSU Professor Lozansky.

The president of the American University in Moscow stressed that “the upcoming US-Russian summit can provide such an opportunity if it is held in the “spirit of the Elbe”, when our countries worked as allies to achieve ” victory over Nazi Germany. “On April 25, 2021, many American and Russian non-governmental organizations and individuals celebrated the 76th anniversary of the meeting on the Elbe and launched the” Save the World-Plant Trees-Save the Planet “movement in the spirit of the Elbe,” he said. Lozansky said that within the framework of this movement, people plant trees as a sign of benevolence between the two countries and for environmental reasons. “We suggest that on the eve of the Russian-American summit, Presidents Biden and Putin should plant the friendship trees of their countries in the gardens of the White House and the Kremlin, with the participation of the ambassadors, as a gesture of goodwill for the success of the summit,” the professor said.

“It’s time for a real, not the old fake reboot. Let the “spirit of Elba” help us reach a turning point in improving relations between these two great nations, ” concluded Lozansky.

The meeting of Soviet and American troops took place on April 25, 1945. In the area of the city of Torgau on the Elbe River, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front met with the troops of the 1st US Army.

The US President, in a telephone conversation with the Russian president on April 13, put forward the idea of holding a Russian-American summit in a third country in the coming months. Subsequently, the head of the US administration explained that he had invited his Russian counterpart to meet in Europe in the summer. The head of the Washington administration will be in Europe in mid-June to attend the Group of Seven and NATO summits. Earlier, the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov said that the hostile steps of the United States against Russia make it difficult to analyze the situation for Putin to make a decision about the meeting with Biden.