WASHINGTON, June 17. /TASS/. The Geneva meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States was cordial but "very modest progress" was achieved, US political scientist Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of Eurasia Group, told TASS commenting on the Russia-US summit.
"I thought it was well orchestrated by the Biden side. Putin shows up first so the US president isn’t waiting," he pointed out. In the expert’s view, it was "a workmanlike meeting, cordial and engaged, but shorter than expected." According to Bremmer, separate press conferences made it possible for Biden to have "the final word." "Putin needed the meeting more, Biden set the rules," Bremmer said.
In his view, "very modest progress" was achieved at the meeting. In his view, it is "good to get the ambassadors reinstated, good to have the two sides talking on military issues" though there wasn’t much progress. Bremmer noted that cyber issues were among the most important ones and "that’s a big ‘we’ll see’." The expert was skeptical that "the Russian government is willing to seriously change behavior on this."
The summit, initiated by Washington, took place in the Swiss city of Geneva on Wednesday.