This content was published on Jun 09, 2021 – 5:11 PM
Jun 09 2021-17: 11

(Keystone-ATS)

US President Joe Biden will meet President Guy Parmlin and Ignacio Cassis, Head of the State Department (FDFA) next Tuesday in Geneva.

The next day, the head of the White House will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Switzerland’s request to meet with Putin remains unanswered.

Today the FDFA confirmed the news from Blick-online to Keystone-ATS. “Preparations are underway regarding venue, time and agenda,” FDFA spokeswoman Elisa Raggi said. Clarifications are also underway regarding a meeting with Putin.

Stanislav Smirnov, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Bern, told Keystone-ATS that a Swiss request for a meeting between Parmelin and Putin is on the Kremlin’s table in Moscow and will be the subject of a decision and further contacts.

Biden’s first foreign trip will take him to the UK on Friday for the G7 summit (June 11-13) and then to Belgium for the NATO summit on Monday, June 14. A high-level meeting between the United States and the European Union is scheduled for the same day in Brussels. Then the President of the United States travels to Geneva, where he intends to discuss the strained relations between the United States and Russia.

Meanwhile, the Geneva State Council indicated today that it had adopted a decree establishing the security zone in which the movement of people and vehicles will be suspended during the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden on June 16 in Geneva.

The restricted area extends from the Perle du Lac on the Right Bank, along Quai Wilson, and passes through Ile Rousseau, including Pont du Mont-Blanc, and then up to Quai Gustave-Ador. It includes the entire promenade of La Grange and the Parc des Eaux-Vives, and ends at the foot of the Cologny Cliff.