Biden, Putin discuss nukes, ambassadors, and more

US President Joe Biden meets Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) in Geneva on Wednesday. Pic/AFP

Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin of Russia spent more than three hours discussing issues Wednesday at their summit in Geneva.

They ticked through their respective lists so quickly and in such ‘excruciating detail,' Biden says, that they looked at each other and thought, "OK, what next?"
The most pressing issues the leaders discussed included:

Ambassadors: Biden and Putin agreed to return their respective ambassadors to Washington and Moscow in a bid to improve badly deteriorated diplomatic relations between their countries.

Cyber security: No breakthroughs on this issue were announced, but the leaders agreed to at least talk about what has become a major source of conflict between the US and Russia.

Nuclear weapons: Biden and Putin instructed their diplomats to begin laying the groundwork for a new phase of arms control.

The ‘strategic stability dialogue' would be a series of discussions designed to set the table for a negotiation by sorting out what exactly should be negotiated. More broadly, it would aim to reduce the risk of war between the world's two largest nuclear powers.

Biden said the goal is to work with Russia on ‘a mechanism that can lead to control of new and dangerous and sophisticated weapons that are coming on the scene now, that reduce the time for response, that raise the prospect of accidental war.' He said this was discussed in detail.

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