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Hopes in check for Putin-Biden summit

By REN QI in Moscow | China Daily | Updated: 2021-06-10 10:19

Then-US vice-president Joe Biden shakes hands with then-Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow on March 10, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

The upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden may bring about some positive outcomes in bilateral relations, but no cardinal changes are expected, Russian experts said.

The meeting of the presidents in Geneva on Wednesday will not bring about radical changes in bilateral relations but the two leaders can outline a new system of strategic stability and security, said Aleksandr Dynkin, president of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

"Many journalists are inclined to expect some dramatic, revolutionary events. In actual fact, I am convinced that nothing of this kind will happen," said Dynkin, who is also a member of the Supervisory and Scientific Board of the Russian Council for International Relations.

He said the two leaders will pay special attention to strategic stability as the state of affairs in this sphere requires urgent talks.

"The Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty was ratified literally two days before the document's expiry and so we got some respite for five years to work out a new treaty on arms reduction," said Dynkin, adding that Moscow had proposed discussing both strategic nuclear and conventional armaments because in an era of technological progress they can be developed to reach hypersonic speeds. With this capacity, they could potentially be employed for a first strike.

"The Americans propose that this issue should not be raised and instead the talks should focus on strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. Therefore, there is significant divergence from the very start and it is hard for me to predict what the sides will agree upon," Dynkin said.

Still, the expert expects the Russian and US leaders will discuss the efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal-formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action-and the nuclear weapons nonproliferation agenda in general.

Details underway

Although the summit is less than a week away, Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy aide, said on Tuesday that work on details for the program for the Russia-US summit in Switzerland is still underway.

When asked whether the issue of the return of Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov to the US and US Ambassador John Sullivan to Russia will be raised, Ushakov said: "It is too early to say now."

In March and April, Antonov and Sullivan were recalled to their respective capitals for consultations as bilateral relations came under further strain following Moscow's anger over Biden's harsh public criticism of Putin.

However, in a report by Russian newspaper Izvestia, experts and even senior officials are quoted as being more positive about the prospects for "diplomatic courtesies".

The most positive outcome expected from the summit could be the return of the ambassadors to each country's capital. According to the newspaper, the two nations will demonstrate their willingness for dialogue on normalizing, or at least unfreezing, relations from their current level.

Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, believes that the return of the envoys is a rather likely outcome of the talks.

"This will be a very positive signal in terms of resuming diplomatic and consular relations," Suslov said.

Izvestia quoted First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Dmitry Novikov as saying that the return of the ambassadors from consultations would be a major breakthrough in relations.

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