Speaking at a presse conference following his summit with President Biden in Geneva, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the talks “quite constructive” and said he and Biden agreed to return their ambassadors to their respective posts in Washington and Moscow. Putin also said he and Biden had reached an agreement to start negotiations on cybersecurity. “There was no hostility. Quite the contrary,” Putin said of the meeting with Biden. Biden is expected to hold a news conference after Putin concludes his remarks.
The 46th American president had adopted a resolutely firm tone towards the strongman of the Kremlin to better mark the contrast with the procrastination and ambiguities of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump at the beginning of his mandate.
The discussions between the two lasted between two hours, but the two did not eat together. At most they will have refreshments, coffee and tea delivered by the restaurant next door. It was a small-format meeting (the US and Russian presidents as well as US and Russian foreign ministers Antony Blinken and Sergey Lavrov), before an extended working session.
The Russian leader said his meeting with the U.S. president was a positive one, although he highlighted some differences between the two men. But Putin did speak of the importance of finding common ground on cyberattacks.
“Principally speaking many of our positions, we don’t share the same positions in many areas, but I think that both of these sides showed a willingness to understand one another and to find ways to bring our positions closer together,” he said. “Talks were quite constructive.”
“As for cybersecurity, we reached an agreement chiefly that we will start negotiations on that,” Putin added. “I think that’s extremely important.”
The Russian leader pushed back on the suggestion that his government was involved in the ransomware attack last month on Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest pipeline systems for refined oil products in the U.S. The Atlanta-area company paid about $4.3 million to a Russian criminal group known as DarkSide to get back into operation. Federal officials subsequently said that $2.3 million of the Colonial ransom had been recovered.
Russia has repeatedly violated cybersecurity agreements over the years and experts say it is doubtful that this will change unless Putin faces serious consequences. At the news conference, Putin claimed that Russia is more of a victim of these types of attacks than an initiator.
