A thaw in Geneva?

United States President Joe Biden met Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday in a high-stakes summit in Geneva, Switzerland. Swiss President Guy Parmelin greeted them outside Villa La Grange, welcoming the leaders to Geneva and wishing them good discussions, “for your two countries and for the world” even as observers expected few concrete results from the meeting.

Relationships between the two countries are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, with ambassadors absent on both sides. Though observers didn’t have high hopes for the summit, most regard the meeting as a positive development. Biden critics say holding the summit gives Putin the international recognition he wants. But as they sat down to talk in the library of Villa La Grange, Biden said, “I think it’s always better to meet face to face.”

The conversation got off to a stumbling start when reporters in the press pool scuffled and jockeyed for position in pre-meeting photo ops. More Russian journalists showed up than anticipated and tried to push their way into the room. Presidents Biden and Putin greeted each other cordially but with stony expressions.

Before Biden’s European trip, which included meetings with G7 leaders and a NATO summit, Biden said his objective was to repair relationships with American allies, a reference to former President Donald Trump’s distanced stance with European nations, particularly NATO partners. In a press conference after the NATO summit, Biden said that the alliance’s mutual defense pact was a “sacred obligation” for the United States. “I want all Europe to know that the United States is there,” Biden said. “NATO is critically important to us.”

A united front among Western allies was critical going into Wednesday’s meeting with Putin. Biden’s promise to hold a tough line with Putin relieved European leaders. Biden said several G7 leaders personally thanked him for meeting with Putin. “I’m going to make clear to Putin there are areas on which we can cooperate,” Biden said before the summit. “If he chooses not to cooperate, cybersecurity etc., then we will respond in kind.” Biden also wanted to “make it clear where the red lines are.”

Along with cybersecurity issues and alleged Russian hacking, other discussion topics included Russian interference in U.S. elections, Ukraine matters, and human rights abuses—the case of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Putin considers Navalny’s arrest and imprisonment an internal affair and doesn’t want the United States to get involved . Biden said Monday that Navalny’s potential death in prison would be “another indication that Russia has no intention of abiding by basic human rights. It would be a tragedy and would affect Putin’s relationship with the world and with me.”

The Nord Stream oil pipeline project, 90 percent complete and funded in part with Kremlin backing, is now proceeding after the Biden administration waived sanctions against key players in the project. The Washington Post reported last month that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had recommended sanctions, but Biden refrained, concerned about the relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany and other Western European nations are increasingly dependent on Russian oil.

The last time Russian and American leaders met in Geneva was 1985, when Ronald Reagan met Mikhail Gorbachev at the height of the Cold War in what Reagan dubbed a “fireside chat.” That summit ended with them only agreeing that the two countries must avoid nuclear war at all costs and Reagan inviting Gorbachev to Washington. Only much later did historians come to regard that meeting as the first thaw in relations between the two countries.

But Biden and Putin are not Reagan and Gorbachev, and whether they can find ways to reduce tensions and guarantee stability in the current era may require more than just a lakeside chat.