Will Biden-Putin meet smoothen the roadblocks between US-Russia?
On June 16, the US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva, Switzerland. After the high-profile meeting, both the White House and Kremlin issued the following joint statement: We, President of the United States of America Joseph R. Biden and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, note the United States and Russia have demonstrated that, even in periods of tension, they are able to make progress on our shared goals of ensuring predictability in the strategic sphere, reducing the risk of armed conflicts and the threat of nuclear war. The recent extension of the New START Treaty exemplifies our commitment to nuclear arms control. Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Consistent with these goals, the United States and Russia will embark together on an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue in the near future that will be deliberate and robust. Through this Dialogue, we seek to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures.  After the Geneva Summit, Putin praised Biden and called him an astute negotiator. He perfectly knows the matter, Putin said. He is fully concentrated and knows what he wants to achieve. And he does it very shrewdly. The atmosphere was quite friendly, he added. I think we managed to understand each other, we managed to understand each others positions on key issue, they differ on many things and we noted the differences. At the same time, we established areas and points where we can possibly bring our positions closer in the future.  However, tensions continue to remain between the US and Russia primarily over three factors  the human rights situation in Russia and specifically the case of Alexie Navalny, the alleged Russian role in the cyberattacks in the US, and the situation in Ukraine. Addressing a press conference after the Summit, Biden remarked, We dont derive our rights from the government; we possess them because were born  period. And we yield them to a government. And so, at the forum, I pointed out to him that thats why were going raise our concerns about cases like Aleksey Navalny. I made it clear to President Putin that well continue to raise issues of fundamental human rights because thats what we are, thats who we are. The idea is, We hold these truths self-evident that all men and women We havent lived up to it completely, but weve always widened the arc of commitment and included more and more people.  Cybersecurity has been another bone of contention between the two nations. On April 15, 20201, Biden signed an executive order imposing fresh sanctions on Russia over a pattern of malicious cyber-attacks against the US and allies, including the December 2020 SolarWinds attacks, which it has now formally attributed to the Russian state-backed APT29, or Cosy Bear. The US has repeatedly blamed Russia for these attacks but Putin rejects these allegations. In an interview to a news channel, Putin remarked, We have been accused of all kinds of things  Election interference, cyberattacks and so on and so forth. And not once, not once, not one time, did they bother to produce any kind of evidence or proof. Just unfounded accusations.  The US has also been critical of Russian aggression in Ukraine. After the summit, Biden said in an interview, I communicated the United States unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Ahead of the Summit, Biden had said that Ukraine could join NATO if they meet the criteria. Russia has said that Ukraine joining NATO would be a red line for Moscow. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, This is something we are watching very closely and this really is a red line for us  as regards the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has welcomed the discussions on Ukraine in the Biden-Putin Summit and remarked that it was now time for Russia to pull back from Ukraine. Even as the US and Russian Ambassadors return to Moscow and Washington respectively, ties between the US and Russia are likely to be strained. Jake Sullivan, the US Assistant to President for National Security Affairs said that the US is preparing to impose additional sanctions on Russia over the poisoning of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and continue restrictions against Russian organizations participating in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Photo Credit : Getty Images  Twitter : @_Himansh_  Email : info@newdelhitimes.com  Like this: Like Loading...