U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have concluded their meetings in Geneva, the White House said.┬а
The pair met for nearly four hours on Wednesday, first in a smaller session and later in a larger meeting that was expanded to include more officials from both countries┬аand which lasted about 65 minutes.
Putin and┬аthen Biden are scheduled to hold media┬аconferences before departing the summit site.
With deep disagreements likely, expectations for the meeting were low. Both leaders have said they hope┬аtheir talk┬аcan lead to more stable and predictable relations, even though they’re at odds over everything from arms control and cyber-hacking to election interference and Ukraine.
Putin and Biden shook hands on arrival before going inside.
“Mr. President, I’d like to thank you for your initiative to meet today,” Putin said, sitting next to Biden, adding, “U.S. and Russian relations have a lot of issues accumulated that require the highest-level meeting.”
Biden said they would try to determine areas of co-operation and mutual interest, saying, “It is always better to meet face to face.”
Managing expectations
Aides had earlier downplayed hopes for the meeting.
“We’re not expecting a big set of deliverables out of this meeting,” a senior U.S. official told reporters.
“I’m not sure that any agreements will be reached,” said Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov.
The first bilateral round lasted almost two hours, according to the TASS news agency, which cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The two leaders took a short break before resuming with a larger group, the RIA news agency said.
Continued discussions were expected to include U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Relations have deteriorated for years, notably with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and U.S. charges тАФ┬аdenied by Moscow тАФ┬аof its meddling in the 2016 election that brought Donald Trump to the White House.
WATCH |┬аTensions high ahead of Biden-Putin summit:┬а
U.S. President Joe BidenтАЩs summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin comes amid heightened tensions between the two countries because of concerns over cybersecurity and the military buildup in Ukraine. 4:50
They sank further in March when Biden said he thought Putin was a “killer,” prompting Russia to recall its ambassador to Washington for consultations. The United States recalled its ambassador in April.
The senior U.S. official said the United States was looking at “areas where working together can advance our national interests and make the world safer.”
Peskov, the┬аKremlin spokesperson,┬аsaid whether or not to send back ambassadors would be decided by the two presidents. “Today the presidents will need to determine how to proceed with the heads of the diplomatic missions,” he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
While the issues may be vexing, the surroundings will be serene as the presidents meet in Villa La Grange, an elegant mansion set in a 30-hectare park overlooking Lake Geneva.
Tight lockdown
On Wednesday, the summit perimeter was under a tight lockdown with heavy police presence.┬а
Arms control is one domain where progress has historically been possible despite wider disagreements.
In February, Russia and the U.S.┬аextended for five years the New START treaty, which caps their deployed strategic nuclear warheads and limits the land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.
The senior U.S. official said Biden would also define areas of vital national interest where Russian misconduct would bring a response. Biden signed an executive order in April giving Washington wide latitude to impose sanctions on Moscow.
In a sign of the strained ties, the talks will not include any meals and Putin and Biden are expected to hold separate news conferences rather than a joint one.
“No breaking of bread,” said the senior U.S. official.
‘Loony stuff’
Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat, told Reuters Putin wanted respectful ties and to be treated like members of the Soviet Politburo were in the 1960s-1980s, with “a symbolic recognition of Russia’s geopolitical parity with the U.S.”
“In exchange, [Moscow]┬аwould be willing to cut back on some of the loony stuff,” Frolov said, saying he meant “no poisonings, no physical violence, no arrests/kidnappings of U.S. and Russian nationals. No interference in domestic politics.”
Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think-tank, set the bar for Wednesday’s talks low.
“The principal takeaway, in the positive sense, from the Geneva meeting would be making sure that the United States and Russia did not come to blows physically, so that a military collision is averted,” he said.
