The smooth sailing and genuine bonhomie of the United States President Joseph Biden’s proceeding European tour will grow much tenser at the last event on June 16 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Geneva. Biden comes to this no-themes-barred face-to-face armed with conclusions on how to meet the challenges emanating from Russia that he collected during his in-depth discussions at the back-to-back G7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States–European Union summits, collectively aimed at delivering a strong boost to Western solidarity. Moscow commentators, while downplaying expectations for the Geneva meeting, nonetheless portray it as the culmination of intense international activities kicked off by Biden’s initiative in mid-April (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, June 9). For weeks, the Kremlin had played a delaying game on accepting the invitation as well as demurred on any decisions regarding the timing and place of the rendezvous (indicating its preferences for the beginning of Biden’s tour and for Helsinki); but clearly, Moscow was all along quite keen to see Putin’s pivotal status confirmed via the high-level sit-down with the US president (see EDM, June 10).
OP-ED
Pavel Baev: Contradictory US, Russian messaging on the Biden-Putin summit
(From L) President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, U.S. President Joe Biden and European Council President Charles Michel arrive for an EU - US summit at the European Union headquarters in Brussels on June 15, 2021.
