In late September, while U.S. President Joseph Biden struggled with a multitude of domestic issues and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought opportunities to score points on the international arena, the United States and Russia accomplished a series of potentially consequential diplomatic exchanges and probes at the medium-high level. In Geneva, the two sides held rounds of consultations on strategic stability and cybersecurity; both countries’ top military commanders met in Helsinki; and Victoria Nuland, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for political affairs, planned a visit to Moscow. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s veteran foreign minister, did not cross paths with his U.S. counterpart, Antony Blinken, in the corridors of the United Nations General Assembly; but he did find time in his schedule to meet with leaders of the U.S. Jewish community to discuss Russian-U.S. relations. In turn, Putin avoided Washington during this time, setting his sights instead on a different horizon, and ended his COVID-19 quarantine to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Sochi (Kremlin.ru, September 29).
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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an annual televised phone-in with the country's citizens "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin" at the Moscow's World Trade Center studio in Moscow on June 30, 2021.
