“I told Putin that my agenda is not against Russia”

“Relations between the United States and Russia must be stable and predictableUS President Joe Biden said Wednesday after his long-awaited meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

“I told Putin that my program is not against Russia, it is for the Americans,” the American leader added at a press conference.

Biden denounced Wednesday “the ridiculous comparisons” of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Poutine on human rights, after his first summit in Geneva.

Biden reacted to previous statements at a Putin press conference, in which the Russian president recriminalized the events of the assault by supporters of then-President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill. “These are ridiculous comparisons. It’s one thing for criminals to break a police cordon (…) another is for the people to march to Capitol Hill and denounce that they are not allowed to express themselves freely, ”Biden said at a press conference.

According to Biden, the meeting with the Russian leader – the first since arriving at the White House – was “good and positive“.

Shortly before, during another conference with journalists, Putin had stressed that the dialogue was “constructive”, in a climate of bilateral tensions and many controversial issues.

Biden revealed on Wednesday that he and Putin were in agreement use diplomacy to resolve their disputes over Ukraine, on the basis of the Minsk agreement.

I also “communicated to him the unwavering commitment of the United States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he added.

The historic meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin took place in a tense environment. But both tried to show their willingness to get closer to the positions.

Gestures amidst the tension

Despite the tensions, the summit held at the elegant Villa La Grange began with a hand shake between the two leaders.

Biden took the initiative and reached out to Putin. “It’s always better to see each other face to face, ”said the American at the start of the first with the Russian leader since arriving at the White House.

Since coming to power, the 46th President of the United States has adopted a firm tone vis-à-vis Putin, to clarify the differences with his untimely predecessor, Donald Trump.

Biden also promised he would point out to his counterpart which “red lines” he should not cross.

“I am not looking for a conflict with Russia, but we will respond if Russia continues its nefarious activities,” the US president said ahead of the summit.

Although the White House has insisted that no dramatic breakthroughs are to be expected, the 78-year-old president knows that in Geneva, he has the opportunity to improve his image as an excellent negotiator.

In recent days, observers have recalled the famous Geneva summit between Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, which marked the beginning of the thaw of the Cold War.

“I’m always ready,” Biden said upon arriving in Geneva and asked about his state of mind ahead of the meeting which caught the world’s attention.

But the Russian president also has a long experience of summits. Since coming to power at the end of 1999, he has already worked with four American presidents. Biden is the fifth.

Many experts agree that Putin has already achieved what he wanted most: the summit celebration as a sign of the importance of Russia on the world stage.

The only point of agreement between the White House and the Kremlin was that relations between the two countries are at their lowest in decades.

The subjects of controversy are numerous and the discussions promise to be bitter and difficult, especially on Ukraine and Belarus.

Another sensitive subject was that of computer attacks. As Putin said at the end of the meeting, the two agreed to “open a dialogue on cybersecurity.”

Beyond the attempted interference in the 2016 election, recent massive cyberattacks against companies such as SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline and JBS and attributed to Moscow or Russian-based hacking groups have shocked Washington.

Source: AFP and EFE

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