The United States and Russia normalize their diplomatic relations …

The handshake between thUS President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was a good summary of the eagerly awaited Geneva summit, intended to reduce tensions between the two countries and find points of agreement. Specifically, the two leaders announced the normalization of diplomatic relations and stressed that they would work together on issues such as cybersecurity. Instead, they did not agree on the situation of Russian opponent Alexei Navalni. The two leaders arrived a few minutes apart at Villa La Grange, the meeting place, and were received by Swiss President Guy Parmelin.

After the meeting which lasted almost four hours, Russian president says summit with Biden was “constructive”. He dismissed the US president’s accusations of poisoning and the subsequent arrest of Naval saying that he knew he was going to be arrested in Russia and that he “deliberately sought to be arrested”. For its part Biden revealed that he assured Putin that “the consequences will be devastating” for Russia if Navalni dies.. The President of the United States said Putin What his agenda is not against Russia, but “it’s for the American people” and assured that both they are not interested in “a new cold war”.

“I consider that there was no hostility even if our assessments differ in many respects. From my point of view, the two parties have shown the will to understand each other and to seek a rapprochement of positions, ”he said. Putin at a press conference after the expected presidential summit.

As for the ambassadors of the two countries, Putin assured that “the problem is solved” and that “return to permanent places of service“The Russian and American ambassadors left Moscow and Washington in April, after Biden administration imposed battery of sanctions on Eurasian country for its “destabilizing actions”, which included efforts to “undermine free and fair democratic elections” or “facilitate malicious cyber activity”.

In this sense, the Russian president once again denied the accusations and announced that the United States and Russia would begin a series of consultations on strategic stability and cybersecurity. He stressed that in this area “You have to put aside all kinds of innuendo and start working at the expert level”.

Putin has indicated that Russia is also suffering from cyber attacks and cited as an example an attack on the health system of one of the Russian federated entities. “Of course, we see where the attacks come from, we see that this work is coordinated from cyberspace in the United States», He underlined. At the same time, the Russian president said that he does not believe that the United States government is “interested in such manipulations”.

Putin added that the opposition leader Alexei Navalni was deliberately breaking Russian law and knew his punishment would be jail. “The organs of power summoned him but he did not show up, he ignored the law and was declared in search of a search,” he said. Despite this, Navalni returned to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from poisoning with a toxic agent from the Novichok group he suffered in August 2020, and was subsequently arrested.

In turn the president Biden He assured the extent of his European tour in Geneva: “I did what I came to do”. The Democratic leader said he told his Russian counterpart that “Human rights will always be on the table”. In addition to him He “made it clear” to Putin that he would continue to voice US concerns over cases like Navalni’s.

The US president, who has seen several important companies and infrastructures in his country undergo cyber attacks in recent weeks, revealed to the press that he had given Putin “a list” of 16 entities that “range from the energy sector to our systems. water supply. “. These “critical infrastructures” must be kept away from cyber attacks, he said..

A reporter at the conference asked Biden to respond to statements by Putin Al Compare the imprisonment of opponents like Navalni with the charges against those who led the assault on Capitol Hill on January 6. “I think that’s a ridiculous comparison.”, He said Biden. The US president stressed that there was a big difference between storming the Capitol with weapons and threatening security forces or marching for “the right to hold free and fair elections” in Russia.

Biden chose not to answer a question regarding if he had reconsidered his comment that President Putin has no “soul”, as he said after a meeting in 2011 with the Russian leader. The Democratic President He smiled, put on his sunglasses and started to walk away from the desk, telling reporters, “Thank you very much.

However, Biden did not leave and decided to answer a few more questions. And he seemed uncomfortable when they asked him why was he so sure that Putin would change his behavior, especially after the Russian leader refused to be involved in cyber attacks and refused to mention Navalni’s name at his press conference.

The US president said it was a misrepresentation of his comments and replied: “I don’t know if he changes his behavior. Where the hell? When did I say I had this confidence?“He asked and continued somewhat dazed:” What I said is that they will change their behavior if the rest of the world reacts to them (for Russia) and that diminishes their position. in the world.