Putin, Biden meet in Geneva, agree to return respective ambassadors

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at their first summit on Wednesday to return ambassadors to each other’s capitals after they were withdrawn earlier this year. They also agreed at lowering tensions and beginning consultations to replace the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons.

The summit held in Geneva lasted less than four hours. The scheduling of separate news conferences meant there was none of the joviality that accompanied a 2018 meeting between Putin and Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.

Putin, who was first to brief reporters, said that the meeting had been constructive, without hostility, and had shown the leaders’ desire to understand each other. He also said Russia and the US shared a responsibility for nuclear stability, and would hold talks on possible changes to their recently extended New START arms limitation treaty.

Putin and Biden shook hands on arrival before going inside. As the pair sat down before the start of the summit, Biden said “I think it’s always better to meet face to face,” while Putin said he hoped their “meeting will be productive”.

“Mr President, I’d like to thank you for your initiative to meet today,” Putin said, adding: “US and Russian relations have a lot of issues accumulated that require the highest-level meeting.”

Biden, on his part, said that they would try to determine areas of cooperation and mutual interest.

The White House said in a statement that it seeks to “restore predictability and stability to the US-Russia relationship”.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have been deteriorating for years, notably with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and US charges—denied by Moscow—of meddling in the 2016 election that brought Donald Trump to the White House. They sank further in March when Biden said he thought Putin was a “killer”, prompting Russia to recall Antonov to Washington for consultations. The United States recalled its ambassador in April.

This is the first meeting of Biden in a decade with the Russian president, whom he last met when Putin was prime minister and he was serving as vice president, in March of 2011. The summit is also the first meeting between US and Russian leaders since Putin met Donald Trump in Helsinki in 2018.