Biden, Putin look to ease hardline ties

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden pressed Vladimir Putin at their summit yesterday to replace the combustible US-Russian stand-off with a more “predictable” relationship between “two great powers” capable of agreeing to disagree.

The two leaders wrapped up their first summit after around three-anda-half hours of meetings at an elegant villa in Geneva.

Biden quickly got to the point: his desire to take US-Russian relations off their increasingly unstable trajectory, in which Washington accuses the Kremlin of everything from meddling in elections to cyberwarfare.

“It’s always better to meet face to face,” he told Putin as they met in the villa’s library. “We are trying to determine where we have a mutual interest, where we can co-operate; and where we don’t, establish a predictable and rational way in which we disagree – two great powers,” Biden said.

Putin noted that “a lot of issues” need addressing “at the highest level” and that he hoped the meeting would be “productive”.

The reference to the US and Russia as “two great powers” was sure to please the Kremlin leader, who has dominated his country for two decades, infuriating the West with invasions of Ukraine and Georgia, and often brutal crushing of political dissent.

Expectations were low for anything more than a modest thaw in relations.

From cyberattacks on American entities and meddling in the last two US presidential elections, to human rights violations and aggression against Ukraine and other European countries, Washington’s list of allegations against the Kremlin runs long.

Putin later said the meeting was constructive and the two sides had agreed to discuss cybersecurity. Washington has complained of meddling and interference in elections, that it says have been carried out by hackers with links to the Kremlin. Putin said the US had requested information on 10 cybersecurity incidents from Russia, and that Washington had received “exhaustive” answers in all cases.