The Russian and US Presidents said talks in Geneva were pragmatic and constructive. Some diplomatic breakthroughs, including a reinstatement of ambassadors, were announced. “I think there was no hostility. Quite the contrary,” said Putin, who was the first of the two leaders to speak to press after the meeting. Emerging a little earlier than expected after less than four hours of talks in Geneva, Putin said both sides had demonstrated a “willingness to understand one another”. At a separate news briefing afterwards, Biden meanwhile said the talks had been carried out in a “positive, non-hyperbolic” tone, although he echoed Putin in stressing there was no friendship or trust involved, rather “mutual self-interest”. As for concrete breakthroughs, Putin confirmed that the US Ambassador to Moscow and the Russian Ambassador to Washington would reassume their respective roles, after both had been recalled earlier this year due to diplomatic tensions. Putin also announced that with...
