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GENEVA. – US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have concluded their Geneva summit, bringing to an end the first meeting between the pair since Biden took office in January.
The talks yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, lasted about four hours, according to the White House.
Addressing reporters following the meeting, Putin said the talks were “constructive”. He said he and Biden had agreed the US and Russia would return their respective ambassadors to their posts in a bid to lower tensions between the countries.
Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, was recalled from Washington about three months ago after Biden described Putin as a killer.
US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan left Moscow almost two months ago after Russia suggested he return to Washington for consultations.
Prior to the summit, expectations for any substantial breakthroughs had been low, with Moscow and Washington both openly cool on the prospects of major progress.
The pair are currently at odds over a range of issues from arms control and cyber-hacking to election interference and Ukraine.
During the press conference, Putin said Moscow and Washington will begin discussions on possible changes to the recently extended New START arms control treaty, adding that the two countries are responsible for nuclear strategic stability.
He also said Russia had provided exhaustive information to the United States on cyber attacks and that the two sides agreed to start “consultations on cybersecurity”.
Regarding Ukraine potential membership in NATO, the Russian leader said there was nothing of substance to discuss. He also accused Kyiv of breaching an agreement to halt a conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian leader said his meeting with the US president was a positive one, although he highlighted some differences between the two men. But Putin did speak of the importance of finding common ground on cyberattacks.
“Principally speaking many of our positions, we don’t share the same positions in many areas, but I think that both of these sides showed a willingness to understand one another and to find ways to bring our positions closer together,” he said. “Talks were quite constructive.”
“As for cybersecurity, we reached an agreement chiefly that we will start negotiations on that,” Putin added. “I think that’s extremely important.”
The Russian leader pushed back on the suggestion that his government was involved in the ransomware attack last month on Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest pipeline systems for refined oil products in the US. The Atlanta-area company paid about US$4,3 million to a Russian criminal group known as DarkSide to get back into operation. – Al Jazeera
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