America and Russia agree to reinstate their ambassadors to each other’s countries
⏺️Biden-Putin took the decision
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva. One of the biggest successful results of this meeting was that now both the countries have agreed to send their ambassadors back to their posts. Apart from this, it has also been agreed to start talks to replace the last treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons.
Putin said there was no acrimony during the talks which ended in less time than expected. Both sides had said that they expected the meeting to last four to five hours but the meeting between the two leaders lasted less than three hours. This included a preliminary meeting attended by both the president and top aides of both.
The Russian president said they had agreed to send their ambassadors back to their respective deployments. The two countries had in recent months withdrew their top ambassadors from Washington and Moscow due to deterioration in relations. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov was recalled from Washington nearly three months ago after Biden called Putin a murderer. US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan left Moscow about two months ago. Putin said ambassadors are expected to return to their positions in the coming days.
After the meeting ended, Putin single-handedly spoke of the outcome, while Biden addressed separately. Putin acknowledged that Biden raised human rights issues with him, including the case of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Putin defended Navalny’s prison sentence and repeatedly asked questions about his mistreatment of Russian opposition leaders, referring to the domestic turmoil in the US including the Black Lives Matter protests and the January 6 violence on the capitol is included.
Putin said he and Biden agreed to begin talks on a possible replacement of the new START treaty limiting nuclear weapons after it expires in 2026. Washington halted talks with Moscow in 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Negotiations resumed in 2017, but did not succeed in expanding the new START treaty during the Trump administration.
Putin also said that the two sides have agreed in principle to start consultations on cyber security issues. However, he denied US allegations that the Russian government was responsible for recent high-profile hacks against business and government agencies in the US and around the world.
The meeting between Biden and Putin on Wednesday took place at a Swiss mansion on the banks of a lake. The meeting took place at a time when both the leaders said that the relations between their countries were at the lowest level ever.
Before the meeting began, both the leaders briefly appeared before the media and termed it as a meeting between two great powers and said that a one-on-one meeting is always better. Putin said he hoped the meeting would be fruitful. However, during this time both the leaders were seen avoiding looking directly at each other in front of the cameras.
