As if time had slipped over the imperturbable city of Geneva, the summit between Joe Biden and Vladimir Poutin scheduled for Wednesday, June 16 has disturbing similarities with the first of its kind in the middle of the Cold War, between the American Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. It is still a majestic 18th century building on the shores of Lake Geneva, the Villa La Grange, which will serve as the setting for the meeting from 1 pm, first in a small format: the American and Russian presidents just flanked by the heads of their diplomacy, Antony Blinken and Sergey Lavrov. Their delegations, made up of several hundred advisers and members of the “secret services”, will be in the vast adjoining park, ready to intervene… and to filter the comings and goings of some 300 journalists admitted to this sanctuary.American channels have requested that the famous water jet be illuminated at night for their direct!
Security is omnipresent, the city has been placed under cover with 2,000 police and military personnel from all over Switzerland to reinforce the 3,000 Geneva agents.
The shores of the lake are closed, small planes banned from overflight for 50 km around, the air forces are on the lookout with the support of the neighboring French air force.
But the Russian and the American rely above all on their own services.
Barely disembarking from Air Force One, Joe Biden rushed into “The Beast”, the presidential armored Cadillac transported everywhere, reaching the bunkerized Intercontinental Hotel.
As for Vladimir Poutine, who is in his fifth American president, he refused to sleep there and made the round trip from Moscow during the day.
"I don't think you have a soul"
As in 1985, the meeting is at high tension. “We are not looking for the conflict with Russia, warned Joe Biden, but we will respond if Russia continues its activities. »The challenges of the summit? The bellicose Russian policy towards Ukraine, the support for the Belarusian dictator hijacker Alexander Lukashenko, the fate of the imprisoned opponent Alexeï Navalny, the control of nuclear weapons and especially the cyber attacks against state and private American computer systems, with ransom demands. Washington sees in it the paw of "cyber-gangsters" nestled in Russia. Moscow denies any involvement. Finally, as in the days of the Cold War, an exchange of prisoners could be discussed, Vladimir Poutine having declared himself ready to release two Americans detained in Russia (one for espionage,the other for assaulting police officers).
The two men have always hated each other.
When he was vice-president of Barack Obama, Biden had met Vladimir Poutin, in 2011, and had launched to him, eye to eye: "I do not think that you have a soul".
Having become president, he called him a "killer", considers him a "cold, hard, realistic man" who plays with corruption across the planet.
Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, had a penchant for the impetuous Trump, which he had managed to manipulate.
"We have no illusions"
It was the White House that proposed this summit meeting in Geneva, during a phone call in mid-April.
"It's not a reward for Putin," said Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor.
We want to be able to look President Putin in the eye and tell him: these are the American expectations.
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The meeting should last four or five hours, no joint press conference is planned: two separate desks have been set up in the park. “We have no illusions, warns someone close to Joe Biden. For us, this summit is an important tool in managing what will continue to be a difficult relationship ”. In 1985, in Geneva, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev had chained the meetings over two whole days. Six years later, the USSR collapsed.