What to expect from the Biden-Putin Summit
A senior official in the administration of US President Joe Biden said yesterday that he does not expect significant results in Biden's first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We do not expect this summit to yield great results," he added, upon landing in the US Air Force One in Geneva ahead of today's scheduled meeting.
The presidential flight, according to information from Biden's group of journalists accredited to it, landed at Cointrin airport in Geneva from Brussels at 16:16 local time.
Biden went directly to a heavily guarded hotel where he will stay for talks with Swiss President Guy Parmelan.
Geneva is preparing to host the US-Russian summit amid strict security measures, including a ban on drone flights over the city from the morning of June 14 until midnight on June 17, and a maximum alertness of the Swiss police in light of "the conditions of the high level of threat."
It is expected that the Swiss authorities will involve about 3.5 thousand members of the security forces during the work of the upcoming summit.
The meeting in Geneva will mark the first summit between Putin and Biden after the latter assumed the position of US President in January 2021, and the talks will take place at a time when both parties stressed that bilateral relations between Russia and the United States have fallen to the lowest level in many years.
Russian Vice President Yury Ushakov had previously announced that the talks are expected to focus on discussing "issues that represent common irritants in bilateral relations," explaining that the two leaders will discuss strategic stability, combating the pandemic of coronavirus infection "Covid-19", cybercrime and regional files Such as the Ukrainian crisis, the situation in the Middle East and the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Schedule:
The White House unveiled Biden's schedule at the Geneva summit:
14.25 - Photo session of Putin, Biden and Swiss President Guy Parmelin
14.35. - Bilateral meeting of the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States
15.55 - 1st round of the extended meeting of Putin and Biden with the participation of delegations,
17.40 - 2nd round of the extended meeting.
Biden will fly to Washington from Geneva immediately after the talks and press conference.
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