Slim hopes as Putin-Biden summit begins with a wide gulf between them

Geneva

WITH deep disagreements likely and expectations of solving them low, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down in a lakeside villa in Geneva on Wednesday for their first summit since Mr Biden took office.

Both have said they hope their talks can lead to more stable and predictable relations, even though they are at odds over everything from arms control and cyber-hacking to election interference and Ukraine.

Mr Putin and Mr Biden shook hands on arrival before going inside.

The Russian leader, seated next to the US one, said: "Mr President, I'd like to thank you for your initiative to meet today."

Mr Biden said they would try to determine areas of cooperation and mutual interest, and added: "It is always better to meet face to face." Aides had earlier downplayed hopes for the meeting.

A senior US official told reporters, saying the leaders were expected to talk for four or five hours: "We're not expecting a big set of deliverables out of this meeting." Mr Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said: "I'm not sure that any agreements will be reached."

Relations 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 Mr Biden said he thought Mr Putin was a "killer", prompting Russia to recall its ambassador to Washington for consultations. The United States recalled its ambassador the following month.

The senior US official said the United States was looking at "areas where working together can advance our national interests and make the world safer".

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the two presidents would "need to determine how to proceed with the heads of the diplomatic missions", Russian news agencies reported.

While the issues may be vexing, the immediate surroundings of Villa La Grange, an elegant mansion set in a 30-hectare park overlooking Lake Geneva, will be serene.

The summit perimeter was under heavy police guard.

After the bilateral meeting, Mr Biden and Mr Putin were due to lead discussions including their broader delegations; among the participants in these talks were US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, along with interpreters.

Arms control is one domain where progress has historically been possible, despite wider disagreements.

In February, Russia and the United States extended for five years the New START treaty, which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads they can deploy and limits the land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

The senior US official said Mr Biden would also define areas of vital national interest, where Russian misconduct would bring a response. Mr Biden signed an executive order in April, giving Washington wide latitude to impose sanctions on Moscow.

In a sign of the strain in ties, the talks will not include any meals, and Mr Putin and Mr Biden are expected to hold separate news conferences rather than a joint one.

Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat, told Reuters that Mr Putin wanted Russia to be treated with respect, as members of the Soviet Politburo were in the 60s to the 80s, with "a symbolic recognition of Russia's geopolitical parity with the US".

"In exchange, they (Moscow) would be willing to cut back on some of the loony stuff," Mr Frolov said. This might mean "no poisonings, no physical violence, no arrests/kidnappings of US and Russian nationals, no interference in domestic politics".

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, set the bar for Wednesday's talks low.

"The principal takeaway, in the positive sense, from the Geneva meeting would be making sure that the United States and Russia did not come to blows physically, so that a military collision is averted," he said.

In contrast to Mr Trump, whose 2018 summit with Mr Putin in Helsinki included a meeting accompanied only by interpreters, Mr Biden and Mr Putin are not expected to have any solo dealings. Standing beside Mr Putin in Helsinki, Mr Trump refused to blame him for meddling in the 2016 US election, casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and sparking a storm of domestic criticism. REUTERS