Never since the Cold War have relations between America and Russia been so icy.
Whereas Donald Trump described Vladimir Putin as a “great guy” and a “terrific person”, new President Joe Biden has called his long-time adversary a “killer” with “no soul” whose government is “paranoid”.
On Wednesday, the two leaders are set to come face-to-face as they hold their first summit in Geneva. They have much to discuss.
The only thing the pair have so far agreed on is that relations between the two superpowers have never been so low.
So bad is the stand-off, neither currently has an ambassador in-country as Trump’s cosy relationship with Putin is all but a distant memory.
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Long gone are the times when the former Apprentice star was sycophantically toadying up to the Russian leader, putting him above his U.S. intelligence services.
Instead, Biden has not forgotten the interference Moscow carried out in helping put Trump in the White House, tensions on the Ukrainian border and the state-sponsored attempted murder of Sergei Skripal on U.K. soil.
White House sources have told the Mirror the US leader will go into the meeting with open eyes and well-prepared to confront Putin over Russia’s aggressive conduct and to lay out consequences for further provocations.
Although expectations are low, here is what the meeting means.
Alexei Navalny
Ahead of the summit, President Biden issued a warning to Putin that the death of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny would damage Moscow’s relationships with the rest of the world.
“Navalny’s death would be another indication that Russia has little or no intention of abiding by basic fundamental human rights,” Biden said on Monday following the NATO summit.
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“It would be a tragedy. It would do nothing but hurt his relationships with the rest of the world, in my view, and with me,” he said.
In January, Navalny flew to Russia from Berlin, where he had spent nearly half a year recovering after having been poisoned last summer.
He was arrested at passport control as soon as he landed.
A month later, a Russian court sentenced Navalny, 45, to more than two years in jail for parole violations, charges he said were politically motivated.
How have we got to this point?
The choice of Geneva as a setting harks back to a Cold War encounter in 1985 - the first summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Under the two leaders, America and Russia began building much closer relations, which continued during the Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin era.
It brought greater stability throughout the world.
That was until the spring of 1999 with the Nato bombing of then-Yugoslavia and relations began to deteriorate.
However, they started taking a much more sinister turn in 2014, due to the crisis in Ukraine, Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, differences regarding Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, and from the end of 2016 over Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 and 2020 US elections.
There’s no prospect Wednesday's meeting event will match the Reagan/Gorbachev summit for personal rapport or political progression.
What is the goal?
Although Moscow and Washington view each other with intense mistrust, both sides grudgingly appreciate the need to have a working relationship to avoid disaster.
“Russia still has, together with the United States, the largest nuclear arsenals on Earth,” says Eric Green, the National Security Council senior director for Russia.
“Russia is still a permanent member of the security council at the U.N. That means whether we like it or not, we have to work with Russia on certain core challenges that are out there in the world.”
Both sides will want some form of “stable and predictable relationship” however it seems unlikely.
“Whether we can have a stable environment, I don’t think so,” said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre. “I believe that the most that can be done as a result of the Geneva summit is the clarification for both sides of where their real red lines lie.”
What's on the agenda?
The topics for discussion will be vast. Fresh from the G7 summit in Cornwall, while their allies thanked Biden for his readiness to tackle Putin.
An immediate priority will be rebuilding diplomatic ties between America and Russia.
“They need to work out at least a minimum of the reestablishment of diplomatic ties so that the U.S. can get on with doing the business that it needs to do in Russia and the same for the Russians here,” said Angela Stent, director of the Centre for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at Georgetown University.
The U.S. leader will be eager to raise ongoing issues in Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea - all countries heavily influenced by Russia.
Both parties recognise they have no choice but to work together on strategic stability and arms control.
Biden is also anticipated to raise the recent hijacking of a Ryanair flight by Belarus and reaffirm America’s support to Ukraine.
Climate change is also set to be discussed.
What can they realistically achieve?
Putin told state television there were “issues where we can work together” with America, beginning with new nuclear arms control talks, discussing conflicts including Syria and Libya, and climate change.
He said:” If we can create mechanisms for working on those issues, then I think we can say the summit was not in vain.”
Some in Moscow suggest a truce in the “diplomatic wars” may also be possible.
Putin may allow its ambassador back to Washington as a minimum move.
Does the relationship still matter on the global stage?
Although Russia’s relationship with the West is plumbing depths of hostility and common differences unseen since the original Cold War, it shows just why the relations between Moscow and Washington matters more than ever.
As China’s influence grows, it is vital America and Russia step up to ensure global stability for the rest of the world.
Presidential relationships
Before Donald Trump poodled up to Putin, the last time the two leaders of the countries met in an official summit was in 2010 when Barack Obama met with Dmitry Medvedev in Prague.
The meeting was cordial with a commission set up “identifying areas of cooperation and pursuing joint projects and actions that strengthen strategic stability, international security, economic well-being, and the development of ties between the Russian and American people.”
However behind the scenes was Putin, who for the ten years previously held power with an iron fist.
Medvedev was a symbolic president with his predecessor still holding the controls.
Obama would go on to meet Putin several times although failing to hold an official summit together.
Despite starting off well in 2009, seven years later in Hangzhou, China, he famously stared down the Russian as relationships faltered at the G20 meeting.
Before Obama, Putin had enjoyed a warm relationship with George W Bush holding two summits together.
The then US president even once welcomed his Russian counterpart into his home, holding discussions and a barbecue dinner on his ranch which included lessons in how to dance the Cotton-Eye Joe.
Bush would later say of Putin: “I looked the man in the eye. I found him very straightforward and trustworthy. I was able to get a sense of his soul.”
Bush’s top security aide Condoleezza Rice later wrote the phrasing had been a serious mistake.
“We were never able to escape the perception that the president had naïvely trusted Putin and then been betrayed,” she said.
Tale of the tape - America
Population - 328 million
Founded - 1776
Wealth - £75,229 billion
GDP - £13,830,365,146,906
World happiness - 14/95
Average monthly wag e - £463
Domestic burglaries per 100,000 people - 351
Russia
Population - 144 million
Founded - 1991
Wealth - £2,166 billion
GDP - £1,120,330,766,483
World happiness - 60/95
Average monthly wage - £2,709
Domestic burglaries per 100,000 people - 67