President Joe Biden has said he is ready for a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Valdimir Putin, this Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland.
It will be the first time that the two leaders have seen each other since Biden arrived at the White House and they will do so amid growing tensions between the two countries.
Biden arrived in Geneva on Tuesday after a week of meetings with European allies in which he sought to strengthen the worn out alliances of the United States in order to confront China and Russia.
"I'm always ready,"
Biden said when asked by a reporter if he was ready for the crucial meeting with the president of the Russian Federation.
The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the President of the United States, Joe Biden, in a combination of photos.
However, officials in the White House have qualified in recent hours the expectations surrounding the bilateral talks.
Despite the long list of grievances that the United States holds Russia responsible for: hacker attacks on the country's infrastructure, election interference, intervention in Ukraine, and repression of the opposition in Russia, it is not clear that the meeting can produce great deals.
"Who knows by now?" Biden replied when asked if he believed he could reach an understanding with Putin about the recent wave of cyberattacks.
Joe Biden's first tour of Europe begins with the aim of rebuilding transatlantic ties
June 9, 202100: 44
"This is not a defining moment
,
"
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Monday.
“This is about two things for the president, and he has been very clear about it: telling President Putin directly that we are looking for a more stable and predictable relationship, and that, if we can achieve that, there are areas where we are cooperating. in our common interest.
But if Russia continues to take reckless and aggressive actions, we will respond with great force, "he added.
Putin categorically denied in an exclusive interview with our sister network NBC News the accusations against his government of interfering in the United States through hackers and disinformation and polarization campaigns on social networks that sought to influence the electorate.
"We have been accused of all kinds of things," Putin stressed in the interview.
"Interference in elections, cyberattacks and a long etcetera. And not once, not once, have they bothered to present any kind of proof or evidence. Only baseless accusations," he added.
The Russian president also
rejected the accusations that linked him to the murder of several opposition leaders
in his country.
They asked him twice if he is a murderer and this is what Vladimir Putin answered
June 14, 202101: 08
However, Putin agrees with US officials that the bilateral relationship needs to be more "stable and predictable (...) this is something we have not seen in recent years."
The Russian president acknowledged during the interview with NBC News that Biden "is radically different" from former President Donald Trump, whom he called an "extraordinary individual", but compared his behavior to Biden's long career in politics.
"That's a different kind of person," Putin said of Biden.
"I am very hopeful that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages,
but there will be no impulsive movement on the part of the sitting US president
," he added.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin is defiant during an interview with NBC News, days before his meeting with Joe Biden. NBC News
In the two months since Biden invited Putin to meet, Russian groups have been linked to cyberattacks against government agencies in the United States, as well as a major meat producer and the largest oil pipeline on the East Coast.
Russia also backed the president of Belarus, a Moscow ally, when he landed a plane to detain a dissident journalist.
And before the Geneva summit, he banned several political organizations linked to opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in jail.
What is the impact of the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline?
A security expert explains
May 12, 202103: 22
The White House announced that it will not hold a joint press conference with Putin
after the summit;
instead, Biden will inform the media separately of the outcome of the talks.
A contrast to the widely criticized event in the United States in which Trump and Putin appeared together after their meeting in Helsinki.
Despite the differences, there are areas where tangible cooperation agreements are expected, such as the start of a new round of arms control cooperation, known as strategic stability talks.
Biden has also said that he believes he can cooperate with Russia in combating climate change and conflicts in the Middle East.
Trump and Putin during the inauguration of the G20 in July 2017. Getty Images
Another announcement that could be made, according to foreign policy analysts, would be
the normalization of relations between the two countries
, which would imply the return of their respective ambassadors to Moscow and Washington.
Since April, when Biden announced a new round of sanctions, the two diplomats have been sent to their home countries.
"It is going to be a contentious issue and, in some cases, stormy," said former US ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow.
"I don't think the trajectory of the relationship is going to fundamentally change, but at least there will be some areas for follow-up dialogue," he added.
With information from NBC News and The Associated Press.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
