Rival accomplices in Geneva

CorporateDispatchPro

Cover Story

Rival accomplices in Geneva

Vladimir Putin secured a top-level meeting with the fifth American President in a row. Joe Biden held a three-hour conversation with his Russian counterpart at the idyllic Lake Geneva, with an old-style library globe as their fitting backdrop.

With relations between their countries at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, both men were keen to drum up expectations ahead of the face-to-face summit. The meeting, however, had a broader perspective and the two leaders stepped into the hall as if they were representing all like-minded nations, not just their own. Tensions between the West and Russia have been rising at a brisk pace. Accusations of espionage, cyberattacks, and disinformation flowing in both directions were dwarfed by concerns about the Russian troops converging on the border with Ukraine. The crisis in Belarus was another flashpoint, particularly after the detention of journalist Roman Protasevich. The botched attempt on Alexei Navalny’s life and the subsequent arrest of the opposition figure is another sore issue for both sides.

Biden and Putin have been around long enough to understand each other fairly well and, in their comments just ahead of the meeting, they both sought to frame their respective positions as unfriendly but workable. The American President described Putin as “a worthy adversary” with his counterpart returning the political compliment by warning that interlocutors have to tread carefully around Biden.

The themes for discussion spanned from ransomware to unrest in Minsk and the elections in Iran, but the main takeaway was that America regards Russia as a world power. The last US Democratic President before Biden, Barack Obama, sought a new agreement with Putin on the reduction of nuclear weapons but his

CorporateDispatchPro

administration treated Russia as a regional power. On the other hand, Donald Trump nurtured an almost deferential relationship with Putin personally, earning criticism from home.

Biden broke with both his former boss and presidential opponent and put on a combative front, acknowledging Russia’s impact on global affairs.

The two seasoned politicians will have left Switzerland satisfied. Putin headed back to Moscow confident that he had elevated Russia’s profile in the international community while Biden touched down in Washington feeling that he had restored American leadership among its allies.

If the anticipated summit did not achieve anything more significant, it has reinforced the principle that rivals need one another more than anyone else.