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The US and Russia meet again in Geneva, the “capital of peace”

From the meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev, through the negotiations between Kerry and Lavrov to the summit between Biden and Putin, the city of Geneva, known as the “capital of peace” has been a privileged place for meetings between U.S Y Russia.

Swiss neutrality

Geneva is the second most important headquarters of the UN and also houses offices of the Red Cross and several international organizations. This is why this Swiss city is known as the “capital of peace”.

The expression “Geneva, city of peace” was used by Swiss President Guy Parmelin at the summit that brought together US President Joe Biden with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 21, 2021.

Then, this Alpine country showed that thanks to its recognized neutrality, it still maintains a role in international relations, despite the health crisis that complicates meetings between world leaders.

Geneva, located on the shores of Lake Geneva, has been a key location for several peace talks and is a city where Americans and Russians like to meet.

It was in this city that US President Ronald Reagan had a historic meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbatchev in 1985, during the cold war.

Experts and secret services

This city was chosen by both countries when in 2009 and 2010 they held a negotiation to reduce their nuclear arsenals, after the START I pact of 1991.

As the headquarters of the Conference on Disarmament, it is a unique multilateral body for negotiations on this issue, since it has a large number of experts who can facilitate these types of negotiations.

This town was also chosen for several meetings between the heads of Russian and American diplomacy, such as the meeting between Hillary Clinton and Sergei Lavrov in March 2009. Then, the Secretary of State gave her counterpart a red plastic button with the word “restart” in English, as a symbol of a relaunch of relationships.

The two countries have large diplomatic representations and considerable intelligence services in Geneva and have used these venues in recent years for their meetings on Syria.

The meeting of Biden and Putin confirmed this trend. Since then, the undersecretaries of Foreign Relations of both countries have held several meetings in the city, to try to iron out the many differences that undermine the ties between the two countries.

Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov met for the first time on July 28 at the headquarters of the permanent representation of the United States and then on September 30 at the Russian delegation building. .

Discretion and security

Both buildings, which are imposing constructions, are located in the international district, close to the UN headquarters.

All neighborhood security will be reinforced, something common in Geneva. Switzerland, and in particular Geneva, is highly regarded by diplomats for its flexibility and discretion as a host state, as well as the security that this environment offers.

It was here that the historic advances on the Iranian nuclear program in 2013, agreements on the conflict in Bosnia in the 1990s and more recently understandings on the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya were made.

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