The meeting was expected to undermine relations between the United States and Russia.
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, the heads of state of the two world powers, met on June 16, 2021 during a summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
The discussions, lasting four hours, focused on several contentious subjects, including arms control and computer attacks.
One of the major themes discussed was American accusations over the treatment of opponents in Russia.
Vladimir Putin had disputed the assertion that they were often imprisoned or poisoned.
Joe Biden responded with a clear warning: if Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, then imprisoned, were to die, the consequences would be
“devastating”
for Russia.
The death of the opponent this Friday, February 16, at the age of 47, while he was serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism” in a remote penal colony in the Arctic, gives a tragic turn in retrospect to the discussion of the two presidents in the gardens of the Hôtel du Parc des Eaux-Vives in Geneva.