Geneva 16 June, 2021: President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin sit down for their expected summit in the Swiss capital on Wednesday, a moment of high-stakes diplomacy at a time when both leaders agree that US-Russia relations are strained.
For four months, the two leaders traded sharp statements. Biden has repeatedly accused Putin of malicious cyber attacks by Russian-based hackers on US interests, and has also voiced concern over the imprisonment of Russia’s opposition leader and interference in US elections.
Putin, for his part, has reacted to this – pointing to the January 6 uprising in the US capital, saying that the the Russian government is not involved in the attack.
Now, they will meet face to face in a conversation that is expected to last four to five hours. Biden called it an important step if the two countries could finally find “stability and foresight” in their relationship.
“We have to decide where to cooperate in our mutual interest, in the interest of the world, and to see if we can do that,” Biden told reporters earlier this week. Arrangements for the meeting have been carefully choreographed and the two sides have discussed in full.
Biden first opened the meeting in an April phone call informing Putin that he would expel several Russian diplomats and impose sanctions on dozens of individuals and companies that had previously been involved. It is part of an effort to hold the Kremlin accountable for interfering in this year’s presidential election and hacking federal agencies. Putin and his delegation will first arrive at the summit site: a magnificent mansion by the lake in Geneva’s largest park, Villa La Grange. Next came Biden and his team. Swiss President Guy Parmelin will welcome the two leaders.
According to a senior administration official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, the three will spend a moment together in front of the cameras.
Biden and Putin will meet, with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. There will be translators everywhere. The meeting will then be expanded to include five senior assistants from each side. After the meeting, Putin will hold a solo news conference, followed by Biden. The White House voted against a joint news conference, deciding not to show Putin’s arrogance at a time when the president is urging European allies to end various provocations against Putin.
Biden has vast experience of foreign policy having traveled the world as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was given the responsibility of foreign policy by President Barack Obama when Biden became vice president.
He has repeatedly said that he believes that the implementation of effective foreign policy comes from building strong ties, and that he has been able to find mutual relations with both sides of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who Biden has named a traditional Canadian politician like Justin.
But with Putin, whom the president has said is a “killer” and has “no soul,” Biden has long been wary. At the same time, he acknowledges that Putin — he has remained the most powerful figure in Russian politics over the span of five U.S. presidents — is not without talent. Biden this week suggested that he is approaching his meeting with Putin carefully.
“He’s bright. He’s tough,” Biden told reporters. “And I have found that he is a — as they say … a worthy adversary.”
There are hopes of finding small areas of agreement.
No promises have been made, but according to a senior administration official, it is hoped that the two sides will return their ambassadors to their respective postings after the meeting. Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, was recalled from Washington about three months ago after Biden called Putin an assassin, and the US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, left Moscow about two months ago on Russia’s advice. Following the suggestion to return to Washington.
The two ambassadors will be in Geneva during Wednesday’s meeting. Biden administration officials say they believe a common ground can be found for arms control. International arms control groups are pressuring Russian and US leaders to negotiate “strategic stability” and push for new arms control. Security front
The Biden team will address its concerns over cybersecurity. In recent months, Russian-based hackers have launched crippling attacks on a major US oil pipeline and a meat supplier at the Brazilian headquarters operating in the United States.
The Russian side has said that the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is an internal political matter and one area where Putin won’t engage Biden. But the senior Biden administration official said there “is no issue that is off the table for the president,” suggesting Navalny will come up.
The meeting is sure to invite comparisons with President Donald Trump’s 2018 meeting with Putin in Helsinki, where the two leaders held a joint news conference and Trump sided with Russian denials when asked whether Moscow had meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
Biden has prepared for his one-on-one by reviewing materials and consulting with officials across government and with outside advisers. Aides said the level of preparation wasn’t unusual. Biden, in a brief exchange with reporters upon arriving in Geneva on Tuesday night, sought to offer the impression that he wasn’t sweating his big meeting.
“I am always ready,” Biden said.
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