The Geneva summit on 16 June between the Russian and US presidents will not be a friendly encounter.
The Geneva summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden on 16 June will not be a friendly encounter.Both sides describe relations as at rock bottom and neither currently has an ambassador in-country; senior Russian officials are under American sanctions for everything from annexing Ukraine's Crimea to alleged election meddling, and two former US marines are now in Russian prisons - one serving 16 years accused of espionage.
And despite a packed agenda, including meetings at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Monday, there's particular interest in Joe Biden's final stop on his European trip, his one-on-one on Wednesday with Vladimir Putin. Today's White House says its aim is a "stable" and "predictable" relationship with Russia. But keeping people guessing - and wary - has been Vladimir Putin's way ever since his "little green men" entered Crimea in 2014 and the peninsula was annexed from Ukraine.
The US will also raise the fate of its prisoners in Russia, including Paul Whelan who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of espionage, which he has always denied. A few days earlier, he had threatened to "knock out the teeth" of any foreign aggressor who wants to "bite" Russia, insisting that the world needs to wake-up to the country's restored status and strength.
"The Russian public has no appetite for foreign policy 'victories' now as a substitute for addressing burning social and economic problems at home," Mr Kortunov says. "Whatever Putin might want, I don't think he can gain anything [domestically] by escalating.
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