Biden and Putin plunge into hours of talks at summit

US president Joe Biden, left, meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Metzel/Pool Photo via AP)

US president Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin launched into hours of face-to-face talks on Wednesday in a highly anticipated summit at a time when both leaders agree that relations between their countries are at an all-time low.

Mr Biden called the talks in Switzerland a discussion between “two great powers” and said it was “always better to meet face-to-face”. Mr Putin, for his part, said he hoped the talks would be “productive”.