The US-Russia relationship is out of the freezer – but there is no big thaw

Editorial: Face-to-face dialogue between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin is important – even if it is clear there was little meeting of minds

(Dave Brown)

As Joe Biden said before he went into the Villa La Grange in Geneva to hold talks with Vladimir Putin: “It’s always better to meet face to face.” In the era of Covid-19, this has a double meaning, in that it is better to talk in person rather than by phone or video link; but it has always been true in diplomacy in any case. Dialogue is better than the hurling of insults from a distance, and face-to-face dialogue is best of all.

It helped, too, that expectations of the talks between the presidents of the United States and Russia were so low. President Putin said there was “no hostility” and that their conversations were conducted in a “constructive spirit”, but there was clearly little meeting of minds.

The Russian leader restated his familiar defences of his positions in his news conference, deflecting every attack on Russian aggression or abuses of human rights by accusing the US of similar transgressions.

“I did what I came to do,” President Biden said after the meeting, adding that it was “important to meet in person so there could be no mistake about” his intentions.

The relationship between the United States and Russia has been frozen since the ambiguous link between Donald Trump and Mr Putin was broken by last year’s election. There is a personal element to their rivalry because of the Russian’s evident preference for Mr Biden’s predecessor and the suggestions of Russian interference in US elections.

This personal rivalry was heightened when President Biden called Mr Putin a “killer”. The Russian leader had plainly been stung by that and responded at his news conference, saying that if you “look at American streets people are getting killed there”, and US drones in Afghanistan are killing civilians – by accident, “but who is the killer there?”

He repeated his often-used deflection that Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader – whom he named only as “a citizen” and “this person” – “knows full well that he has violated the law in Russia; he is a repeat offender; he deliberately wanted to be arrested”. He tried to turn questions about repression of his opponents by saying that people had been arrested in the US because they “rioted and went into Congress”, and said: “We do not want the same thing here.”

Asked at his own press conference what would happen if Mr Navalny died in prison, Mr Biden said that he “made it clear to [Mr Putin] the consequences would be devastating for Russia” – as he said that he had raised human rights concerns with this opposite number.

Mr Putin himself hardly engaged with press questions about Russia’s attempts to destabilise Ukraine, but talked fluently about the talks with his opposite number about the Arctic Circle. The Russian president even used some friendly diplomatic language, saying: “This was a productive meeting, it was fruitful and to the point.” He said he didn’t want to “imply that we looked into each other’s eyes and found a soul or swore eternal friendship – we didn’t talk about souls, but national interests”. But he added that there were “the glimpses of confidence and hope”. Mr Biden also called the tone of the talks “good” and “positive”.

So there was some bite mixed in with the warm words – with the talks also shorter than expected. But the substance of their disagreement over national interests might have been softened a little.

Beyond the two leaders, ambassadors are set to return to their posts and normal diplomatic relations restored, which is a step in the right direction. And, as Mr Biden said, it is always better that rivalrous world leaders talk to each other – and best of all, face to face.