By Jonathan Elendu
President Joe Biden of the United States of America and Pres. Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation are in Geneva, Switzerland for a summit.
The well choreographed meeting in Geneva is the first time the two are seeing face to face since Joe Biden was elected president of the United States.
Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden are not new to each other as both men have met a few times, the last time being during Pres. Barack Obama’s administration when Biden was vice president.
It is well known that Pres. Putin helped Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2015 for the presidency.
Both men are not known to be friends as Biden had described Putin as a “killer,” while Putin has derided Biden for his age.
Biden is going into the meeting after a successful G7 meeting in Cornwall, United Kingdom and NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
As both men meet, they confront situations where Russian hackers have consistently attacked American government interests and businesses in the United States.
These cyber attacks have posed serious problems to infrastructure, energy and even food businesses have come under threat.
Russia is no longer a super power but still retains heavy war arsenals including nuclear weapons.
Also, the state of human rights in Russia has been of great concern to the international community, especially the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.
The poisoning of Navalny many months ago is believed to have been carried out by Russian agents on the direct orders of Pres. Putin.
This summit is scheduled to last for six hours without the customary lunch that goes with such occasions.