Swiss president optimistic on future arms control after Geneva summit

Swiss President Guy Parmelin says he is hopeful that the Biden-Putin summit in Geneva will serve as a “starting point” for new disarmament negotiations. At a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday evening, Parmelin said he hoped that the summit would have “positive repercussions for the two countries concerned and for the whole world”. In a joint statement issued following their Geneva summit on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their commitment to arms control and risk reduction. Parmelin said the US-Russia statement was “a first positive signal”. Putin and Biden held four-hours of talks in the Swiss city that were described as “constructive” and pragmatic. Biden told reporters that the two presidents had discussed in detail the “next steps our countries should take on arms control measures” to reduce the risk of war. The US president said diplomats and military experts from both countries would meet for what he called a...