The meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Putin ended with mutual cordiality. Putin described the summit as "constructive".
The meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva ended. At the conclusion of the summit, the Russian president said it had been a constructive meeting “without any hostility“.
During the meeting, the US and Russia also agreed to begin consultations on the future of the New Start nuclear disarmament treaty, which the two countries signed in Prague on 8 April 2010.
Meeting between Biden and Putin ends, Russian president says “No hostilities”
US President Joe Biden also spoke on the sidelines of the meeting, reiterating the climate of détente with Russia: “I told Putin that my agenda is not against Russia, it is for Americans […] The relationship between the US and Russia must be stable and predictable“.
Vladimir Putin went on to say that Biden very different from his predecessor Donald Trump, calling him a “seasoned statesman” and pointing out that he spoke with him for over two hours, something that would not be possible with most politicians.
During the press conference following the meeting, Putin then spoke about the human rights issue by referring to the US prison in Guantanamo: “Guantanamo is still open, and it does not correspond to international human rights standards or US laws. ‘What human rights are we talking about? In Europe there were prisons where people were tortured. In Russia we are developing our own path’.
Meeting between Biden and Putin concluded, positions on the Navalny affair
In reference to the imprisonment of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, Putin said, “This person knew that he was violating Russian law and had committed the same crime several times. Speaking of Navalny’s case, Joe Biden used the word ‘killer‘ to describe Putin last March, which led to the immediate expulsion of ten US diplomats from Moscow. On the issue, Biden responded at a press conference by saying: “We will continue to raise questions for cases like Alexei Navalny and all human rights issues. I told Putin that.
