Putin, Biden shake hands amid anticipation yet low expectation
Summit details suggest Russian side ‘ more in control, more relaxed’
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden finally shook hands at an 18thcentury Swiss villa perched above Lake Geneva on Wednesday, but as the two sides and most observers worldwide have downplayed expectations ahead of the summit, the meeting is unlikely to mark an end to tensions between the two global powers, with Chinese analysts saying that Biden needs the summit more than Putin.
After the handshakes outside the building, Biden moved inside and talked to media. Putin said to Biden that he thanks Biden for the initiative to meet and hopes their “meeting will be productive.” Biden responded “As I said outside, I think it’s always better to meet face to face.”
Biden finally shook hands with Putin, whom he once said was a “killer” in an interview with media. When they met, the journalists neither saw the “intense talk” between the two leaders which occurred in the meeting between Obama and Putin, nor the “dramatic atmosphere” when former US president Donald Trump appeared to be dazzled by Putin.
The 78- year- old Biden and Putin, 69, exchanged decent and short opening remarks,
but media outlets and observers worldwide consider this is probably the friendliest atmosphere that they can create.
The two leaders didn’t hold a joint press conference nor sign any joint documents. Before the meeting, Putin released a lot more information than Biden did through media. This also proves that Putin is better at handling media than his US counterpart, as experts said Putin is a Russian leader that has the experience in dealing with five different US presidents, from Bill Clinton to Biden, and he perfectly understands what the US is.
After the long meeting, Putin held his own press conference. Describing the talks as constructive, Putin also criticized the US harshly for accusing Russia of cyber attacks and human rights issues while the US has a terrible record on it when he answered questions of media after the talks.
Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, noted the extensive analysis of the diplomatic etiquette and the atmosphere at the villa porch is a reflection of how highly anticipated the summit is, particularly as both sides describe bilateral relations as being at the lowest point in decades.
The fundamental interests of Russia cannot be guaranteed by the US as the latter is still imposing sanctions on Russia in various aspects. This is an abnormal political atmosphere, which determines that the relationship between the two countries cannot be sound from a strategic point of view, said Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Technically, the two countries have many pressing issues to solve, such as regional security, NATO enlargement, nuclear missiles, Syria and Ukraine. The two sides cannot reach a consensus on the bottom line, Yang believes.
Lü Xiang, a research fellow in US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in
Beijing, said that the meeting with Putin is the most important goal for Biden’s trip to Europe, as his prior meetings at the G7 or with NATO allies are more about showing unity. The meeting with Putin is about the real tensions, Lü said.
China is expected to be high on the agenda. Now that Biden has finally met almost all the leaders of major world powers, except for President Xi Jinping, and now he can probably prepare for the last and the most significant one as Biden is learning what the positions of all his major counterparts are on China, said some observers.
But in the coming months, there is no occasion or necessity for a China- US summit, and at the very least, China does not think the summit is urgent as it has a lot more important issues to deal with, Lü said.
Who’s nervous?
All eyes are fixed on the summit, with international media outlets and netizens paying attention to the smallest detail they saw on the live broadcast. Putin arrived at the venue earlier than Biden.
Russian state news agency RIA has an interesting take on the protocol inside the villa. As Putin arrived at Villa La Grange before his counterpart, Putin sat on the right during the talks, RIA says. “In protocol language, this means the host of the summit is Russia.” But some US and Western media outlets also said Biden was worried that waiting for Putin would be “losing face.”
During the small talk between the two leaders, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a notebook and wrote something while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s hands were empty. Journalists at the venue were tightly packed and scuffles broke out as they jockeyed for position to photograph the two leaders, the noise almost drowning out comments Biden made.
“Did Blinken really need to take notes or write down some reminders to his boss?” said a Beijing- based expert on diplomacy who asked for anonymity, adding that it “Looks like Biden’s nervousness is reflected in his cabinet representatives,” since Putin and Lavrov seem much more relaxed.
Another interesting detail is that Biden called the US and Russia “two great powers” during the pre- summit small talk with Putin, but during the term of former US president Barack Obama, the US downplayed Russia’s influence as a “regional power.” Some observers said this shows that Biden wants to show Putin more respect.
“When we had exchanges with American scholars and officials in the past, they even tried to persuade us [ Chinese scholars] that Russia is irrelevant as they believed Russia’s strength is declining,” Lü said, adding that this proves the arrogance of the US and that they have never respected Russia as an equal partner.
Now that Biden needs to ease the tensions and try his best to split China- Russia ties, he needs to show more respect to Putin, but the Putin is a wise and strategic thinker, he noted.
The respect could also bring trouble for Biden, because the US media, which is extremely hostile to Russia and Putin, will criticize Biden for appearing too weak and soft, said experts.