Russian President Vladimir Putin met the then-US Vice President in Moscow on March 10, 2011 (Photo: REUTERS)

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said ongoing differences between the US and Russia would not need to be resolved in advance of a summit.

Biden and his advisers would like to add a summit with Putin in a third country while the US president is in Europe in mid-June for a Group of Seven meeting in Britain and talks with NATO allies in Brussels.

But Psaki said that negotiations with the Russians on staging the summit are continuing.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited by Russian news agency TASS as saying Russia was studying the possibility of a Putin-Biden meeting.