Geneva Summit Live Updates: Putin, Biden Sign Declaration to Ensure Nuclear War is Never Unleashed

Dr. Carole Lieberman, a board-certified psychiatrist and best-selling author, explains why Biden chose to exchange a firm handshake with Putin, instead of repeating the elbow-bowing bid which he opted to use with other European leaders:

"President Biden did extend his hand first for a handshake and President Putin did reciprocate with a seemingly genuine
handshake, as well.

Why did Biden shake hands in the time of Covid-19? Though many at the G7 meeting greeted each other with awkward elbow bumps, when President Biden was on his own, he just reached out to shake President Putin’s hand automatically, because he wasn’t surrounded by others taking Covid-19 precautions, and because he felt it was more important to offer a gesture of goodwill to President Putin, whereas the others at G7 took his goodwill for granted."

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The lawyer for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a prison sentence in the United States, contacted the Russian Embassy in Washington to facilitate a prisoners exchange after the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden in Geneva.

On Wednesday, Putin said after the summit with Biden that they raised prisoners exchange as an issue on which compromises could be found between Russia and the United States.

“I contacted the embassy, ​​expressed my readiness to fully support the American judicial system in order to implement the release of our compatriots,” Yaroshenko’s lawyer Alexey Tarasov said on Wednesday.

Tarasov said he contacted the Russian diplomats after the summit in Geneva concluded because it offered hope for the release of Russian citizens who are held in US prisons.

“This could be an impetus for movement on the issue of the release of Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor But,” Tarasov said.

Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in 2010 on suspicion of drug trafficking and later extradited to the United States. In 2011, a US court sentenced Yaroshenko to 20 years in prison for allegedly taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle a large amount of drugs into the country. Yaroshenko pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he hopes the creation of a strategic stability dialogue between the United States and Russia will reduce the risk of armed conflict.

"I welcome the establishment of the Strategic Stability Dialogue and hope substantive progress can be made to reduce the risk of armed conflict," Menendez said in a press release on Wednesday.

Menendez also said he expects the Biden administration to take appropriate measures in response to any Russian actions that concern the United States.

PRAGUE (Sputnik) – The summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Joe Biden in Geneva and the assessment they gave to the talks, made a positive impression and gave some hope for improving the international climate, former Slovak Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky, who was in office from 1991-1992, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"On the eve of the summit of the Presidents of Russia and the United States, most forecasts about its future results were very pessimistic. There have been too many recriminations on both sides lately. Therefore, the assessment of the negotiations and their atmosphere given by both presidents at subsequent press conferences was a pleasant surprise. This raises certain hopes for improving the international climate," Carnogursky said.

According to the politician, it is vital that Putin and Biden agreed on a set of issues — in particular, the common ground on the importance of the Minsk agreement for the resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Besides, the leaders also agreed on the need to jointly prevent tension in the Arctic as a potential area of rivalry between the two leading powers.

"The fact that several issues raised at the talks, according to the statements of both presidents, will be discussed at the level of the relevant ministries, indicates the interest in their solution. I mean, for example, the topics of strategic and cybersecurity,” Carnogursky noted.

He also compared the Putin-Biden summit with the previous one, held in 2018 in Helsinki between the Russian President and former US President Donald Trump.

"Trump had a lot of impulsiveness, improvisation. Behind his words, there was no confidence that the preliminary agreements raised at the meeting would be continued in practice, which in many respects happened. I would like to believe that Biden is a more serious politician in this sense, who will try to implement at least part of the intentions that were voiced in Geneva. It is no accident that the American president stressed that the cold war is not in the interests of either the United States or Russia,” Carnogursky explained.

As for mutual visits, which, according to Putin, have not been discussed at the summit, Carnogursky said that it would come to this matter in case the bilateral negotiations on the issues continue successfully.

"We need a mutual interest in the development of cooperation, in the positive results of the negotiations. Today, it was announced by both presidents. I think the whole world hopes for success, " the Slovak politician concluded.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland will be in Brussels June 17-18 to meet with allies to follow up on the recent EU, NATO summits as well as on President Joe Biden’s meeting with his Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss common foreign policy issues, the Department of State said on Wednesday.

“Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland will travel to Brussels June 17-18 to follow up with our Allies and partners on the NATO and U.S.-EU summits and the President’s meeting with Russian President Putin,” the Department said in a release.

“Under Secretary Nuland will meet with NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana and members of the North Atlantic Council.  The Under Secretary will also meet with European External Action Service Secretary General Stefano Sannino to highlight U.S.-EU cooperation on a wide range of issues, including tackling complex foreign policy challenges.”

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - There was a certain improvement in tone between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladmir Putin during their talks in Geneva, former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock told Sputnik.

"Certainly there is an improvement in tone," Matlock said when asked to assess the summit. "We will see whether future actions bring positive results."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The lawyer of Viktor Bout, a Russian national serving his 25-year sentence in the United States, expressed the belief that the discussion of the potential Russian-US prisoner swap at the top-level summit in Geneva was a great start for boosting the partnership.

Bout was sentenced to 25 years back in 2012 on charges of conspiring to kill Americans and of supplying Colombian rebels with weapons. The Russian citizen pleaded not guilty. His defense team expressed hope earlier this week, ahead of the summit of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, that Biden would consider the opinion that their client should be included in the swap.

"President Putin's commitment to an exchange of prisoners is a great start and a signal to the world that Russia and the US are prepared to end the hostility between the countries and build a strong and lasting partnership," Steve Zissou, who leads the attorney group representing Bout’s interests in the US, told Sputnik in a phone conversation.

"The quickest way to build a partnership based on trust would be to repatriate Russian and American prisoners," Zissou added.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov expressed the belief that Russia and the United States could start their strategic stability consultations, which the presidents agreed to launch, already in the coming weeks.

Earlier on Wednesday, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden agreed to lay the groundwork for future arms control through strategic stability consultations. In addition, they reaffirmed the principle that "a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."

"We are yet to determine the dates, but by all appearances, this is a matter of weeks, not months," Ryabkov told Russia's Kommersant newspaper.

It will be quite difficult to align approaches, but Russia is ready to face this "higher diplomatic mathematics" challenge, the high-ranking diplomat assured.

"It is important to have not only political will, but also a creative approach. This will be fully ensured from our side. We have sufficient expertise. Interdepartmental interaction is efficient. We hope that the US side will show an equally high level of professionalism," Ryabkov stated.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden has left Geneva after meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapping up his first trip to Europe since inauguration, CNN reported on Wednesday.

The meeting of the two leaders took more than three hours, during which all the topics planned for discussion between the two powers’ representatives were covered while both leaders said the summit was productive.

US President Joe Biden told reporters on Wednesday that he sees a genuine opportunity to significantly improve the relationship between the United States and Russia after he met earlier with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“I am not standing here saying because the President and I agreed that we would do these things then all of a sudden it is going to work. I am not saying that. What I am saying is I think there is a genuine prospect to significantly improve the relationship between our two countries without us giving up a single solitary thing based on principle and our values,” Biden said during a press conference.

Biden also said the success of the summit will be determined by “practical, straightforward, no-nonsense decision that we have to make or not make.”

“We will find out within the next six months to a year whether or not we actually have a strategic dialogue that matters. We will find out whether we work to deal with everything from release of people in Russian prisons or not. We will find out whether we have a cybersecurity arrangement that begins to bring some order,” Biden said.

The US president voiced confidence that neither Russia, nor the US wants “to be in a situation where we were in a new Cold War.”

“And I truly believe he [Putin] thinks that. He understands that,” Biden said. He added that while Putin may have concerns “about being encircled, that we in fact are looking to take down”, these are not the driving force for him in shaping relationship with the US.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is hopeful the United States can maintain peace and security in Afghanistan.

"He [Putin] asked us about Afghanistan, he said that he hopes we are able to maintain some peace and security and I said that has a lot to do with you [Russia]," Biden said during a press conference after the bilateral summit in Geneva.

Biden added that Putin told him Russia was prepared to help on strategic security matters related to Afghanistan and Iran.

Putin presented Biden with a stationery set decorated in the traditional Russian painting style of Khokhloma, while the US President gave Putin a pair of aviator glasses and a crystal sculpture of a bison.

“President Biden gifted President Putin a crystal sculpture of an American Bison by Steuben Glass of New York, a stately interpretation of one of our nation’s most majestic mammals and representative of strength, unity, resilience,” the White House official said in a statement distributed from the US Presidential press pool.

US leader also presented his Russian colleague a pair of custom aviator sunglasses made by Randolph USA, the notice added.

“In 1978, Randolph joined forces with the US military to produce the HGU-4/P Aviator designed for fighter pilots. They have since provided the U.S. military and NATO partners with their high-level, durable aviators, manufactured domestically in their Massachusetts factory,” it said.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed during their meeting in Geneva issues concerning Syria, Iran and the Arctic.

Biden said he also discussed with Putin efforts to prevent the resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he raised the United States' concerns about Belarus during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

"I communicated the United States' unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, we agreed to pursue diplomacy related to the Minsk agreement and I shared our concern about Belarus," Biden said during a press conference.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that his negotiations with US President Joe Biden were important, as they met to make this world a safer place.

A reporter asked Putin at a press conference how he would explain to her nine-year-old daughter the importance of the summit.

"It is nice that your nine-year-old daughter is interested in such questions. The answer is quite simple: you should just look around ... You see, this world is so wonderful, and adults, leaders of two countries, of two major nuclear powers, meet to make this world a safe and flourishing home for all those living on our planet," Putin said.

Patti Wood, body language expert and author of 'SNAP Making the Most of First Impressions Body Language and Charisma'

"I thought there was a couple of things that were interesting - in the handshake, Biden not only initiated the handshake, he got Putin's attention, sort of called him out. Not only Biden did that but he also kept Putin in the handshake. So the handshake lingered a bit - that was slightly similar to the way Trump would extend the handshake but not the power, overriding dominance that Trump uses, but instead just a sign of, hey, I'm confident. And during that handshake, Putin looked away and look towards the cameras instead of Biden, not really fully engaging in the handshake.

Then also, I had a longer piece of tape that I analyzed - of them sitting together and Biden was sitting in some respects at his normal seated position, when he's meeting with world leaders. Biden typically does a leg cross, with his leg crossed towards the other leader. So Biden did that. That's what he normally does. But what he also did, he crossed his leg with his foot twisting to point towards Putin. That twisting showed his extra effort to focus on Putin, connect with him.

Putin was sitting with his normal leg splayed out and the toes pointed outward. That's just a normal seating position. And that indicates I am powerful. I take up more space than the normal person. But in many ways, also Putin has a slouch, kind of relaxed down in the chair position that he usually does. And that shows a little bit of defiance that I have so much power and I don't have to be sit up straight. But the slouch was a little bit more down, downward body language, and his head was down more that he seemed tired to the point of he looked exhausted. And overall Putin didn't show a lot of, in the footage that I saw, I didn't see him show a lot of energy and engagement with Biden."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that there was no animosity during his discussions with US President Joe Biden in Geneva, which Putin added were "quite constructive."

"I think that there was no animosity. On the opposite, our meeting took place, and principally speaking our positions differ in many areas, but from my point of view, both sides showed a willingness to understand one another and to find ways of bringing our positions closer together. Our discussions were quite constructive," Putin said in a post-summit presser.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he believes US President Joe Biden agrees that the Minsk agreements as the way forward in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"As far as I understand, President Biden agrees that the basis for a settlement in Ukraine should be the Minsk accords," Putin said in a post-summit presser.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he discussed topics such as strategic stability, regional security, and cyberthreats during his face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden.

"The themes [of the discussions] are likely known to everyone: strategic stability, cybersecurity, regional conflicts, trade relations, and we also talked about cooperation in the Arctic," Putin said.

The talks between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden at Geneva’s Villa La Grange were successful, a source in the delegation said.

The meeting between the two presidents lasted about 4.5 hours.

"[The talks were] quite successful," the source said. 

Dr. Carole Lieberman, a board-certified psychiatrist and best-selling author based in Beverly Hills, California

"President Putin has made it clear that he likes and respects former President Trump much more than President Biden - and one cannot blame him. The cue cards are an embarrassment for Biden and Americans. Biden’s need for cue cards reflect the cognitive problems I have warned about before."

La Suisse a une longue pratique des bons offices. Merci à tous ceux qui s’engagent pour que le sommet puisse avoir lieu dans les meilleures conditions possibles et à toutes celles et ceux qui participent à la recherche de solutions aux défis mondiaux. pic.twitter.com/zA4nWgqH4Y

— Guy Parmelin (@ParmelinG) June 16, 2021

and there we have the handshake 👀 #Biden #Putin #BidenPutinSummit Geneva pic.twitter.com/Tr2G6hxyXz

— . (@Lettie4u) June 16, 2021

President Putin has arrived in Geneva and is en route to the villa for the summit. pic.twitter.com/b0RFJX2TDD

— Will Vernon (@BBCWillVernon) June 16, 2021

Apart from US President Joe Biden, Putin will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, National Security Council's Senior Director for Russia Eric Green and US Ambassador to Russia John J. Sullivan, according to CNN. 

🛬 President Vladimir #Putin arrived in Geneva. The 🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russia-US Summit to begin soon. All is set and ready. pic.twitter.com/zqjrI2nZKB

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) June 16, 2021

Swiss President Guy Parmelin has arrived at the villa ahead of the Putin-Biden summit, the Kremlin pool of journalists reported.

Karin Kneissl, Austria's former minister of foreign affairs, on the Putin-Biden summit:

"The first meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden is taking place in Geneva. Villa La Grange on Lake Geneva has a certain 'genius loci', that is a spirit that can facilitate such a diplomatic exchange.

In anticipation of the meeting between Putin and Biden, Vienna and Helsinki, where Putin met Trump in 2018, were also suggested as places to hold talks. Vienna and Geneva have always been in a certain competitive relationship, being the headquarters of the UN. The fact that this time the race was won by Geneva is explained, among other things, by the upset relations between Russia and the EU - the capital of an EU member state could hardly have been picked as an option. Neutral Switzerland is known for its long tradition of 'bons offices'. This includes the role of host, messenger and, if necessary, active mediator in diplomatic negotiations."

Putin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told Russian media on Wednesday that the summit between the Russian and US presidents was an opportunity "to sort out, dismantle all the rubble".

"Our diplomatic property, the inability of our employees to work, the lack of dialogue on such sensitive areas as the fight against terrorism, information security, and so on. All this needs to be resolved, all this needs to be discussed in order to restart these processes, if, of course, the political will is stated for that today," Peskov argued.

Владимир Путин вылетел на саммит с Байденомhttps://t.co/bEQaoNgcw0 pic.twitter.com/VNfxiGIXSh

— Владимир Жуков (@ZhukovV55) June 16, 2021

Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said that he expects ambassadors of the two countries to return to their duties following the Wednesday summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Joe Biden.

Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov and US ambassador John Sullivan arrived in their countries for consultations this spring. Both diplomats will be present at the summit in Geneva.

Meanwhile, McFaul mentioned that he does not have high expectations from the summit in Geneva.

"I do not expect anything, I am glad that the presidents will meet, and this is right. There are very few concrete cases, but it is necessary to start. I think that they will, first of all, agree to continue the historic conversation with the Soviet Union and Russia on nuclear weapons treaties. As a former ambassador, I hope that we will normalize the institution of representation of our states in Moscow and Washington. It's bad that Antonov is back home," McFaul told reporters, adding that hopefully "there will be a concrete result, because Antonov should be with us, and Sullivan should be with you."

At the same time, the former US ambassador to Russia got surprised when he found out Antonov arrived in Geneva and said that he was aware only of Sullivan’s arrival.

Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said that he understands why there will be no joint press conference after the Wednesday meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden, and mentioned that the briefing after Putin’s meeting with former US President Donald Trump did not serve Washington’s interests.

Putin met with Trump in Helsinki in July 2018.

"I know well the history of the Soviet- and Russian-American summits, when I served in the White House, we had meetings with and without press conferences. I can guess why they don't want a general press conference now. Because the latter in Helsinki was terrible for American national interests," McFaul told reporters when asked if the US’ refusal to hold joint briefing shows weakness.

The former ambassador added that Biden is a very different man in comparison to Trump.

"By the way, I was at the last meeting between Putin and Biden in 2011. I'm not worried how Biden will react. But this experience with Trump was pretty bitter," McFaul added.

At the same time, the former ambassador rejected the assumption of journalists that this indicates uncertainty in the positions of the American side and mentioned that the oppositive is true as the Russian president does not answer questions that he is asked.

"In an interview with NBC there was a question about interference in the American elections, he said that no evidence was presented. But excuse me, Mueller wrote thousands of pages, and the Senate wrote fifteen hundred. So when Putin says that Americans don't want to tell the truth, it's hard to have a productive dialogue," McFaul said.

The ambassador also said Putin claims that the US has its problems with extremists and provided an example of US Capitol riots "and he compares these people" with Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny but they have nothing in common.

McFaul said that such conversations are counterproductive so it is better to talk about work.

US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker will receive Ukrainian Ambassador to Washington Oksana Markarova on Wednesday, according to the State Department's daily schedule.

The meeting will be closed to the press, the topic of discussion is not named.

The meeting will take place on the same day that US President Joe Biden meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

US President Joe Biden will return to Washington from a European tour on Wednesday, immediately after meeting in Geneva with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Biden's daily schedule, shared by the White House.

A pool of journalists is being convened to cover Biden's arrival in Washington, although the exact time of arrival is unknown.

Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Putin and two rounds of an expanded-format meeting in Geneva on June 16, according to the schedule.