The mood was reserved when the Americans and Russians met today in Geneva. On paper, the meeting was about a nuclear deal, but it’s also seen as a test of whether the icy relationship can thaw something.

Any hopes in this direction – or fears, depending on who you ask – have a thorn even before the meeting. On Tuesday evening, the White House accused Russia of having already participated in the 2022 US Congressional elections through disinformation.

– It is a pure violation of our sovereignty, Sade President Biden one in speech in Washington.

Biden added that Putin “is based on an economy with nuclear weapons and oil but nothing else,” which received a strong reaction from Moscow.

– The United States can hardly be called partners. It’s more like an adversary, Kremlin spokesman said Dmitry Peskov.

Xi and Putin “better”

Today’s meeting in Geneva follows Biden’s meeting with Putin in June. than the United States last week gave the green light for the controversial Russian-European gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 has also been described as a reconciliation “Olive oil” in Russia.

This decision has been criticized by Ukraine and Poland. At the same time, the United States is largely concerned about the deepening of cooperation between Russia and China. “The best” Putin and Xi Jingping declared their friendship with each other, most recently last month.

The idea of ​​pushing Russia away from China has been raised in American expert circles, but the disagreement between Russia and Western countries is harsh, especially after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Instead, Russia turned its eyes to the east, according to experts SVT spoke.

“Easier in the east”

China as a good neighbor is always good for Russia, but many in Moscow don’t believe the relationship with the West can even be mended, according to Andrei Baklitsky of Russian University MGIMO.

– Ideally, Russia wants to develop relations both in the west and in the east, but at the moment it is much easier in the east.

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Olya Oliker, European head of the Crisis Group think tank, asserts that Russia is not immune to the fact that it still owns a large part of its country, Europe, but that it continues to develop relations with China.

– There is room for him to grow up and he will probably do the same.