Is Joe Biden Ready to Deal with Putin After Geneva’s Lackluster Performance; Or Will it be a Repeat Letdown?
(Photo : Peter Klaunzer - Pool/Keystone via Getty Images)
U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during the U.S.-Russia summit at Villa La Grange on June 16, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. Biden is meeting his Russian counterpart, Putin, for the first time as president in Geneva, Switzerland.

The US needs a foreign policy win if Joe Biden is ready to deal with Putin's higher stakes. So, the EU and NATO have been outmaneuvered by the Russian strongman, who is at the top of his game.

The EU needs the US leader to step up several levels as the Belarus-Poland border chaos and the Ukraine border standoff is overloading Brussels resources to the max. The White House needs to push its weight to reign in Moscow, or if not, the EU will have difficulties.

Biden to meet Putin

This scheduled talk between the White House and Kremlin will be high starks as the EU and NATO face its most lethal opponent, Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Europe is now at the brink with Ukraine and the energy crisis turning Brussels on its head, especially a new conflict like overloading borders, reported the Express UK.

For the EU, stakes are high, but for the US President, way higher as the Russian strongman has benefited from this development.

The preliminary groundwork for the meeting has been done, but no set date yet. Officials Russia's Nikolai Patrushev and the US' Jake Sullivan have set cybersecurity and the Polish crisis as points for discussion. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that hybrid war is not what Russia is doing.

Confirmation of the meeting comes after the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warning to reveal more attacks online in the UK. Claims of ransomware cyber-assaults supposed to come from Russia last year only cited BBC. Joe Biden should be ready to deal with Putin, especially in this concern.

Read Also: Russia Probes EU's Reaction in the Ongoing Migrant Crisis at the Poland-Belarus Border

Russia and the US discussed cybersecurity; one conclusion reached by the US is that Moscow should act on hackers if the information is passed on to them. But what Biden says in effect is the Kremlin does sponsor the online attacks. The last ransomware attacks show how ineffectual cybersecurity is.

The White House and the UK have been allegedly provoking the Kremlin

Ukraine will be a significant concern for the discussion, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last Monday. Saying the buildup of Russian armor and service members are lying close to the border. He added that if the Kremlin were provocative, that would be dangerous.

This week Kyiv and London inked a deal for ships and missiles to improve its navy, one that Putin views as dangerous, pushing a possible conflict at the doorstep of Ukraine.

Brussels has slammed Russia and Belarus for the escalation on the fringes of the Polish border, as Middle Eastern migrants are languishing because the EU will not take them in.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is blamed unjustly for initiating the exodus of migrants, and Brussels has sanctioned him for flawed elections, but the Kremlin stands by its ally, noted CNBC.

The EU has been crucial of Minsk with complaints that it has no involvement in the weaponized migrants going to Poland. Mr. Peskov mentioned that problems with Washington and the Kremlin have continuously injected the chance for Putin to discuss with his western counterpart.

Despite the Geneva summit, Russian officials want to have another one if the US administration agrees. If Joe Biden is ready to deal with Putin this time, he has to do better after the AUKUS deal, as the Afghan pullout has not helped to convince others the US is back.

Related Article: Moscow Calls UK Foreign Secretary Insincere, Blames the EU for the Border Mess