Kremlin says deals at Putin-Biden summit in Geneva 'unlikely' but meeting 'still useful'

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden’s June 16 summit in Geneva is unlikely to yield any deals between Moscow and Washington, the talks between the two leaders will still be “useful,” Moscow’s state-run RFL reported, citing a Kremlin aide. Since assuming the US presidency, Biden will hold bilateral talks with Putin for the first time. 

While the US President did not give out the agenda that he will take up with his Russian counterpart at the G7 dedicated news conference, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, on Monday told reporters that the two leaders did have an agenda that they each discussed in a telephonic conversation with White House national-security adviser Jake Sullivan on June 14. The Putin and Biden summit will include key issues related to nuclear stability, climate change, cybersecurity, and US and Russian nationals’ fate who have been detained in Moscow and in the United States.

"I'm not sure that any agreements will be reached. I look at this meeting with practical optimism," Ushakov said. TASS quoted Ushakov saying the meeting will start sharp at 1 pm local time. The final communique was discussed with the White House advisor, Moscow’s foreign policy advisor further informed.

Biden meanwhile told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 that he plans to discuss the key areas with President Putin where both Washington and Moscow can mutually cooperate. “If he chooses, and if he chooses not to cooperate and acts in a way that he has in the past relative to cybersecurity and other activities, then we will respond, we will respond in kind,” the US President asserted. 

The Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he was “looking forward to a direct dialogue" with US President Joe Biden in Geneva in an interview with state television, adding that the dialogue wouldn't be "in vain”. Putin in his televised remarks said that his meeting with Biden will lead to the establishment of a "mechanism of cooperation" that will unblock cooperation in the areas of mutual interests, including strategic stability, regional conflicts, and environment. 

Moscow has 'no illusions'

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile, told state tv that Moscow has “no illusions” that breakthroughs will be achieved or some historical deal will be made after the June 16 meeting. “But the very fact of a conversation between the two leading nuclear powers at the level of top officials, of course, is important, this needs to be supported in every possible way," Lavrov reiterated. He asserted that Moscow was also ready to resume work with Russia-NATO Council. “When we are called upon to meet with our colleagues from the North Atlantic Alliance, to resume the activities of the Russia-NATO council, we say: ‘Yes, we are ready,’” the Russian foreign minister stated. 

Lavrov also suggested that it was time that NATO must reaffirm its commitment to its obligations made in the 1990s and reduce the military deployment in the Euro-Atlantic region. Terming the NATO defense troop presence as a “gross violation,” Lavrov said that the North Atlantic Alliance must withdraw military forces from territories of the new members. The Biden administration firmly recommitted to NATO and vowed to increase support of the Baltic nations to deter Russian influence, which the Euro-Atlantic institution sees as a regional threat to their sovereignty and national security. 

US President Joe Biden, earlier yesterday, accused Russia and China of “driving a wedge" in US-transatlantic solidarity. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference that a 30-country alliance, established during World War II to counter geopolitical ambitions of the then-Soviet Union, was at a "pivotal moment" in its 72-year history. His remarks came after Biden met bloc's leaders as he arrived for the one-day meeting in Brussels, and called NATO “critically important for US interests."