June 01, 2021: -On Monday, Russia said it would send what it described as “uncomfortable” signals to the U.S ahead of a summit amid the two countries’ leaders in the coming month and told that it was beefing up its western border militarily.

The comments come after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would press Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect human rights when the two leaders meet in Geneva on June 16. Relations amid the two powers are at post-Cold War lows.

“The Americans must assume that several signals from Moscow will be uncomfortable for them, which include in the coming days,” Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted as it says by the RIA news agency.

According to Ryabkov, Russia would be prepared to respond to Biden’s queries about human rights in Russia and said that Moscow was more flexible compared to Washington when drawing up a plan for the summit, RIA reported.

Russia’s ties with the West are strained over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, a military build-up near Ukraine, and allegations of election hacking.

On Monday, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the United States and the NATO transatlantic alliance had recently increased military activity to the West of Russia, which required a response from Moscow.

“The actions of our Western colleagues are destroying the world’s security system and force us to take adequate countermeasures,” the Interfax news agency quoted Shoigu as saying.

“Around 20 military formations and units will be formed in the Western Military District by the end of the year,” he was quoted as saying.