Biden and Putin meet in Geneva for crucial summit to ‘stabilise relations’

The pair will meet for their first face-to-face as leaders – a conversation that is expected to last four to five hours

US President Joe Biden is in Switzerland to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Picture: Fabrice Coffrini/AP

President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin sit down on Wednesday for their highly anticipated summit in the Swiss city of Geneva, a moment of high-stakes diplomacy at a time when both leaders agree that US-Russian relations are at an all-time low.

For four months, the two leaders have traded sharp rhetoric. Biden repeatedly called out Putin for malicious cyberattacks by Russian-based hackers on US interests, a disregard for democracy with the jailing of Russia’s foremost opposition leader and interference in American elections.