Biden, Putin set consultations on updating nuclear pact

GENEVA — Russian President Vladimir Putin says he and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed in a “constructive” summit Wednesday to return their nations’ ambassadors to their posts and begin negotiations to replace the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons.

Putin said there was “no hostility” during the talks that wrapped up more quickly than expected.

The two sides had said they expected to meet for four to five hours but spent less than three hours together, including an opening meeting with just the two presidents and each one’s top foreign aide.

When it was over, Putin had first crack at describing the results at a solo news conference, with Biden to follow with his own session with reporters.

Putin acknowledged that Biden raised human rights issues with him, including the fate of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Putin defended Navalny’s prison sentence and deflected repeated questions about mistreatment of Russian opposition leaders by highlighting U.S. domestic turmoil, including the Black Lives Matter protests and the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Putin held forth for nearly an hour before international reporters. While showing defiance at queries about Biden pressing him on human rights, he also expressed a significant measure of respect for Biden as an experienced political leader.

The Russian leader noted that Biden repeated wise advice his mother had given him and also spoke about his family — messaging that Putin said might not have been entirely relevant to their summit but demonstrated Biden’s “moral values.” Though he raised doubt that the U.S.-Russia relationship could soon return to a measure of equilibrium of years past, Putin suggested that Biden was someone he could work with.

“The meeting was actually very efficient,” Putin said. “It was substantive, it was specific. It was aimed at achieving results, and one of them was pushing back the frontiers of trust.”

Putin said he and Biden agreed to begin negotiations on nuclear talks to potentially replace the New START treaty limiting nuclear weapons after it expires in 2026.

Washington broke off talks with Moscow in 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and its military intervention in support of separatists in eastern Ukraine. Talks resumed in 2017 but gained little traction and failed to produce an agreement on extending the New START treaty during the Trump administration.

The Russian president said there was an agreement between the leaders to return their ambassadors to their respective postings. Both countries had pulled back their top envoys to Washington and Moscow as relations chilled in recent months.

Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, was recalled from Washington about three months ago after Biden called Putin a killer; U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan left Moscow almost two months ago, after Russia suggested he return to Washington for consultations. Putin said that the ambassadors were expected to return their posts in the coming days.

Putin also said the two sides agreed in principle to begin consultations on cybersecurity issues, though he continued to deny U.S. allegations that Russian government was responsible for a spate of recent high-profile hacks against business and government agencies in the United States and around the globe.

U.S. President Joe Biden, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for media during their meeting at the "Villa la Grange" in Geneva on June 16, 2021. (Mikhail Metzel/Pool Photo via AP)

The meeting in a book-lined room had a somewhat awkward beginning — both men appeared to avoid looking directly at each other during a brief and chaotic photo opportunity before a scrum of jostling reporters.

Biden nodded when a reporter asked if Putin could be trusted, but the White House quickly sent out a tweet insisting that the president was “very clearly not responding to any one question, but nodding in acknowledgment to the press generally.”

Their body language, at least in their brief moments together in front of the press, was not exceptionally warm.

The two leaders did shake hands — Biden extended his hand first and smiled at the stoic Russian leader — after Swiss President Guy Parmelin welcomed them to Switzerland for the summit. When they were in front of the cameras a few minutes later—this time inside the grand lakeside mansion where the summit was held — they seemed to avoid eye contact.

For months, Biden and Putin have traded sharp rhetoric. Biden has repeatedly called out Putin for malicious cyberattacks by Russian-based hackers on U.S. interests, for the jailing of Russia’s foremost opposition leader and for interference in American elections.

Putin has reacted with whatabout-isms and denials — pointing to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to argue that the U.S. has no business lecturing on democratic norms and insisting that the Russian government hasn’t been involved in any election interference or cyberattacks despite U.S. intelligence showing otherwise.

In advance of Wednesday’s meeting, both sides set out to lower expectations.

Even so, Biden said it was an important step if the United States and Russia were able to ultimately find “stability and predictability” in their relationship, a seemingly modest goal from the president for dealing with the person he sees as one of America’s fiercest adversaries.

Arrangements for the meeting were carefully choreographed and vigorously negotiated.

Biden first floated the meeting in an April phone call in which he informed Putin that he would be expelling several Russian diplomats and imposing sanctions against dozens of people and companies, part of an effort to hold the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year’s presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies.

The White House announced ahead of the summit that Biden wouldn’t hold a joint news conference with Putin, deciding it did not want to appear to elevate Putin at a moment when the U.S. president is urging European allies to pressure Putin to cut out myriad provocations.

Biden sees himself with few peers on foreign policy. He traveled the globe as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was given difficult foreign policy assignments by President Barack Obama when Biden was vice president. His portfolio included messy spots like Iraq and Ukraine and weighing the mettle of China’s Xi Jinping during his rise to power.

He has repeatedly said that he believes executing effective foreign policy comes from forming strong personal relations, and he has managed to find rapport with both the likes of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Biden has labeled an “autocrat,” and more conventional Western leaders including Canada’s Justin Trudeau.

But with Putin, who he has said has “no soul,” Biden has long been wary. At the same time, he acknowledges that Putin, who has remained the most powerful figure in Russian politics over the span of five U.S. presidents, is not without talent.

“He’s bright. He’s tough,” Biden said earlier this week. “And I have found that he is a — as they say ... a worthy adversary.”

Biden had prepared for his one-on-one by reviewing materials and consulting with officials across government and with outside advisers. Aides said the level of preparation wasn’t unusual. Biden, in a brief exchange with reporters upon arriving in Geneva on Tuesday night, sought to offer the impression that he wasn’t sweating his big meeting.

“I am always ready,” Biden said.

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington and AP video journalist Daniel Kozin contributed reporting

This story has been corrected to show that Geneva is not Switzerland’s capital.

日内瓦——俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京表示，他和美国总统乔·拜登在周三举行的“建设性”峰会上同意让两国大使返回各自的岗位，并开始谈判以取代两国之间最后一个限制核武器的条约。

普京表示，会谈期间“没有出现敌对情绪”，会谈结束得比预期要快。

双方曾表示预计会面四到五个小时，但实际会面时间不到三个小时，其中包括只有两国总统及其各自最高外交助理参加的开幕会晤。

选举结束后，普京首先在单独的新闻发布会上对选举结果进行描述，随后拜登也与记者举行了单独的新闻发布会。

普京承认拜登曾向他提及人权问题，包括反对派领导人阿列克谢·纳瓦尔尼的命运。普京为纳瓦尔尼的监禁判决辩护，并通过强调美国国内的动荡局势，包括“黑人的命也是命”抗议活动和1月6日国会大厦暴动，来回避有关俄罗斯反对派领导人遭受不公正待遇的反复质询。

普京在国际记者面前发表了近一个小时的讲话。尽管他对拜登就人权问题向他施压的提问表现出不屑一顾的态度，但也对拜登作为一位经验丰富的政治领导人表示了相当程度的尊重。

俄罗斯领导人指出，拜登重申了他母亲曾给他的明智建议，并谈到了他的家庭——普京表示，这些信息或许与峰会本身并非完全相关，但却展现了拜登的“道德价值观”。尽管普京对美俄关系能否很快恢复到过去几年的某种平衡状态表示怀疑，但他暗示拜登是他可以与之合作的人。

普京说：“这次会晤实际上非常高效。它内容充实，目标明确，旨在取得成果，其中一项成果就是拓展信任边界。”

普京表示，他和拜登同意开始就核问题进行谈判，以期在2026年《新削减战略武器条约》（限制核武器）到期后，找到新的条约来取代它。

2014年，由于俄罗斯吞并乌克兰克里米亚并军事干预支持乌克兰东部的分裂分子，华盛顿中断了与莫斯科的谈判。谈判于2017年恢复，但进展甚微，在特朗普政府时期未能就延长《新削减战略武器条约》达成协议。

俄罗斯总统表示，两国领导人已达成协议，将各自大使召回原岗位。近几个月来，由于两国关系降温，双方都已召回了驻华盛顿和莫斯科的高级代表。

大约三个月前，拜登称普京为“杀人犯”后，俄罗斯驻美国大使阿纳托利·安东诺夫被召回；近两个月前，俄罗斯建议美国驻俄罗斯大使约翰·沙利文返回华盛顿进行磋商，之后沙利文离开了莫斯科。普京表示，预计两位大使将在未来几天内返回各自的岗位。

普京还表示，双方原则上同意就网络安全问题展开磋商，但他继续否认美国关于俄罗斯政府应对近期针对美国及全球企业和政府机构的一系列备受瞩目的黑客攻击负责的指控。

2021年6月16日，美国总统乔·拜登（左）和俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京在日内瓦“拉格朗日别墅”会晤期间合影。（Mikhail Metzel/Pool Photo via AP）

在摆满书籍的房间里举行的这次会面，开场有些尴尬——在记者们拥挤推搡的短暂而混乱的拍照机会中，两人似乎都避免直视对方。

当记者问及普京是否值得信任时，拜登点了点头，但白宫迅速发布推文坚称，总统“显然不是在回答任何一个问题，而只是在向媒体点头致意”。

至少在他们短暂地与媒体见面时，他们的肢体语言并不特别热情。

在瑞士总统盖伊·帕尔梅林欢迎他们来到瑞士参加峰会后，两位领导人握手——拜登先伸出手，微笑着向表情严肃的俄罗斯领导人致意。几分钟后，当他们再次面对镜头时——这次是在举行峰会的湖畔豪宅内——他们似乎刻意回避眼神交流。

几个月来，拜登和普京一直针锋相对。拜登多次指责普京指使俄罗斯黑客对美国利益发动恶意网络攻击，指责普京监禁俄罗斯主要反对派领导人，指责普京干预美国大选。

普京的回应是反驳和否认——他指出1月6日美国国会大厦发生的暴动，以此论证美国无权对民主规范指手画脚，并坚称俄罗斯政府没有参与任何选举干预或网络攻击，尽管美国情报显示并非如此。

在周三的会晤之前，双方都试图降低外界的预期。

即便如此，拜登表示，如果美国和俄罗斯最终能够在两国关系中找到“稳定性和可预测性”，这将是重要的一步。对于这位总统来说，与他视为美国最强劲对手之一的人打交道，这似乎是一个相当谦逊的目标。

会议安排经过精心策划和激烈协商。

拜登在四月份的一次电话中首次提出了会晤的想法，他在电话中告知普京，他将驱逐几名俄罗斯外交官，并对数十名个人和公司实施制裁，这是为了追究克里姆林宫干预去年总统选举和黑客攻击联邦机构的责任。

白宫在峰会前宣布，拜登不会与普京举行联合新闻发布会，因为此时美国总统正敦促欧洲盟友向普京施压，要求其停止各种挑衅行为，白宫认为此举不会显得是在抬高普京的地位。

拜登认为自己在外交政策方面鲜有匹敌。作为参议院外交关系委员会成员，他走遍全球；担任副总统期间，奥巴马总统也委派他负责一些棘手的外交政策任务。他的职责范围包括伊拉克和乌克兰等棘手问题，以及评估中国国家主席习近平的执政能力。

他曾多次表示，他认为执行有效的外交政策源于建立牢固的私人关系，并且他成功地与土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安（拜登称其为“独裁者”）以及包括加拿大总理贾斯汀·特鲁多在内的更传统的西方领导人建立了良好的关系。

但拜登一直对普京保持警惕，他曾称普京“没有灵魂”。与此同时，他也承认普京并非没有才能。普京在五位美国总统任期内一直是俄罗斯政坛最有权势的人物。

“他很聪明，也很强硬，”拜登本周早些时候说。“而且我发现他——正如人们所说……是一位值得尊敬的对手。”

拜登为这次一对一会晤做了充分准备，他查阅了相关材料，并与政府各部门官员和外部顾问进行了磋商。助手们表示，这种程度的准备并不罕见。周二晚抵达日内瓦后，拜登在与记者的简短交流中，试图给人一种他并不为这次重要会晤感到紧张的印象。

“我随时准备着，”拜登说。

美联社驻华盛顿记者泽克·米勒和美联社视频记者丹尼尔·科津对报道亦有贡献。

本文已更正，日内瓦并非瑞士首都。