WASHINGTON, June 17. /TASS/. The Geneva summit could prove to be an inflection point in Russia-US relations, senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council (NSC) in the Barack Obama administration Charles Kupchan told TASS, commenting on Wednesday’s meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States. 

"The meeting appears to have gone as expected. No breakthroughs. But both Putin and Biden focused more on the positive than the negative. Their conversation seems to have been constructive and forward-looking," he pointed out. "The meeting could prove to be an inflection point in US-Russia relations, stopping the downward slide and possibly serving as a starting point for improving ties," the expert added.

Kupchan is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government. In 2014-2017, he served as special assistant to the US president and senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council in the Barack Obama administration.

According to the analyst, "now the hard work begins." "American and Russian diplomats and experts now need to roll up their sleeves and try to find common ground on cyber, strategic stability, Syria, Ukraine, and other issues of mutual concern," he noted. "As Biden himself admitted, only after coming months of dialogue will we be able to judge whether today’s meeting was just a false start or something that builds into the common ground and concrete cooperation and a lasting improvement in and concrete cooperation on the daunting agenda that the leaders identified," Kupchan emphasized.