GENEVA, June 16. /TASS/. At present, Geneva looks unusually deserted as the authorities beefed up security measures early this morning: on the day of the Russia-US summit, according to the decision of local authorities, the access of transport and pedestrians to the embankments of Lake Geneva, the Mont Blanc Bridge, as well as to La Grange, where the summit will take place at the villa of the same name.
At a considerable distance in front of the exits to the embankments, which are important transport arteries of the city, divided into two parts by the lake and the Rhone River, there are "No traffic" signs. Police posts are set up in closed sections of the streets, according to TASS correspondent who made a road trip around the city in the morning. It is now impossible to drive or walk to the Mont Blanc Bridge, decorated with the flags of Russia and the United States for the occasion.
There are few cars on the streets, including public transport, and therefore the city is unusually quiet for a working day. Geneva is usually this quiet on Sundays and long weekends, when shops, offices and businesses are closed. A number of bus routes have now been changed: this affected, in particular, route 5, which passes the Intercontinental hotel. This hotel and its surroundings are included by the authorities in the security zone, since US President Joe Biden, who arrived in Geneva the day before, is staying there. A policeman at the Place des Nations a few hundred meters from the Intercontinental, as TASS correspondent reported, said that the passage was closed and advised to "drive back."
Access by pass
There are few passers-by on the streets. The railway station square, usually busy even on Sundays and holidays, looks deserted: this is a clear sign that the city residents followed the advice of the authorities and refrained from moving around the city, and local companies and enterprises opted for teleworking. Access to the security zone is allowed either with special passes or on the basis of a document confirming residence on this particular block.
The authorities have taken extensive measures to ensure that the summit's security. The La Grange park and the adjoining Park Haut Vives are fenced in by metal mesh barriers with barbed wire. It is forbidden to park cars nearby. Since June 14, drones cannot be launched, and since June 15, restrictions have been introduced on the use of airspace over Geneva and the territories of neighboring France. There is no navigation on the lake.
Throughout June 16, there is a ban on mass demonstrations on the right side of Lake Geneva, where the parks La Grange and Haut Vives are located, as well as in the Geneva suburb of Grand Saconne, through which the road from the international airport to Geneva passes. The Council of State of Geneva called on citizens to behave responsibly and have an understanding so that the summit could be held "in excellent conditions in accordance with the Geneva tradition of respect, hospitality and dialogue."
The police and the military
The federal authorities have allocated 900 of their colleagues from other regions of Switzerland, as well as a thousand soldiers who guard diplomatic missions and observe the skies, to help nearly two thousand Geneva police officers. Military posts are placed, in particular, at the permanent missions of Russia and the US.
As the Kremlin and the White House reported earlier, the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden will take place on June 16 in Geneva.
According to the press service of the Russian head of state, the two leaders plan to discuss the conditions and prospects for further fostering Russian-US relations, strategic stability matters as well as pressing issues on the international agenda, which include cooperation in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and regulating regional conflicts. This will be the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Biden since the US president took office.