Putin and Biden meet in Geneva (+ video)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Joe Biden, meet on June 16 at Villa Lagrange in Geneva (Switzerland) in their first face-to-face meeting. Since the White House tenant took office.

The two leaders met on the balcony of the villa, where Swiss President Guy Parmelin was present, with whom Putin plans to have a separate meeting after the Russia-US summit. After hearing a word of welcome from the Swiss president, Putin and Biden exchanged greetings and shook hands. Then they entered the building.

At the beginning of the meeting, Putin thanked Biden for his initiative to meet, noting that relations between the two countries “have accumulated many problems” that must be addressed during high-level negotiations. In this context, he expressed his hope that the summit would be “productive”.

The head of the White House, in turn, suggested that both countries would work in areas where they had “common interests.”

The summit is taking place amid rising tensions between the United States and Russia, which in recent months have resulted in the expulsion of diplomats and the imposition of tit-for-tat sanctions. Both Moscow and Washington now hope that the meeting will contribute to the normalization of bilateral relations, although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cautioned that expectations about this meeting should not be overestimated.

The initiative to hold the meeting came from Washington. In mid-April, Putin and Biden had a phone conversation during which The US president reiterated his goal of “building a stable and predictable relationship with Russia” and suggested a meeting in a third country “to discuss the full range of issues facing” Washington and Moscow.

🤝 The first official greeting between the Russian President #Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart #Joe Biden On #Geneva Tweet embed pic.twitter.com/7ESqLBmfoz

– In Media Key (EnMediatica) June 16, 2021

What will the top look like?

As part of the small-scale negotiations, President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are expected to participate on the Russian side, while Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will represent the United States.

Delegation-level talks will follow, after which Putin and Biden will hold two separate press conferences, instead of two joint ones.

Altogether, taking into account pauses and formatting changes, The Putin-Biden summit is expected to last about five hours.

Also, after meeting Biden head-on, Putin is also scheduled to meet separately with the President of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin.

What topics will be covered?

When the Kremlin reported that the meeting would take place on June 16 in Geneva, the Kremlin announced that “it is to address the state and prospects of bilateral relations, problems of strategic stability and current issues on the international agenda, such as interaction in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic and the resolution of regional conflicts.”

Last week, Putin indicated that Russia’s main goals for the summit include The restoration of personal relations and direct dialogue with the United States, as well as the creation of truly effective interaction mechanisms.

According to Lavrov, Moscow also plans to remind Washington of the Russian proposal to stop the deployment of medium and short-range missiles in Europe. In addition, Russia plans to listen to the position of the United States on restoring cooperation in the field of cybersecurity.

For his part, Biden announced that he intends at the meeting to raise the issue of human rights in particular, as well as alleged Russian interference in the US elections and alleged Russian cyber attacks on the infrastructure of the North American state.

Among other topics, the two leaders will also discuss economic cooperation and climate-related issues.