Biden, Putin kick-off Geneva summit

US President Joe  Biden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva for five hours of talks on Wednesday. The leaders shook hand and sat for a brief photo op. Opening the summit, Putin said he hopes for a 'productive' meeting, while Biden stressed 'it is always better to meet face to face.' Putin said, "Still the US and Russia...relations have a lot of issues accumulated that require the highest level meeting and I hope that our meeting will be productive," Biden and Putin were first holding a relatively intimate meeting joined by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Each side will have a translator.

"We're not expecting a big set of deliverables out of this meeting," a senior US official told reporters. US-Russia relations have deteriorated for years, particularly after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its intervention in Syria, and the alleged interference in US elections, a charge Moscow has denied. The strained bilateral ties further soured when Biden said he thought Putin was a "killer", prompting Russia to recall its ambassador to Washington for consultations.