  Russia - US

At a meeting of their foreign ministers in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the US and Russia have agreed on initial steps in the direction of a rapprochement, with the resumption of ambassadorial relations and preparations for a summit meeting between presidents Trump and Putin. Negotiators are to seek ways to end to the war in Ukraine and increase economic cooperation. Europe's press analyses the signals.

A US reconnaissance drone crashed over the Black Sea on Tuesday. The US complained that Russia's "unsafe and unprofessional" actions led to the drone's collision with a Russian fighter jet. Moscow countered that the drone crashed on its own and accused the US of collecting data and passing it on to Kyiv. Europe's press analyses the risks of such incidents.

Russia has announced that it will suspend its participation in the New Start treaty, which commits Moscow and Washington to limiting their strategic nuclear arsenals. However, this temporary suspension does not amount to a withdrawal from the treaty, Putin explained on Tuesday. Europe's press weighs up the consequences.

The US professional basketball player Brittney Griner has been released from a penal colony and is heading back to the US. She was arrested in Russia on 17 February after a small amount of cannabis oil was found in her luggage, and sentenced to nine years in prison in August. The US secured her release by exchanging her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in Illinois.

Both Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden are expected to attend the G20 summit in Bali in November. Now Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has signalled that the Kremlin is open to the idea of face-to-face talks between the two leaders and is also willing to "listen to any suggestions" on peace talks. Biden said in a CNN interview that he saw no good reason for a meeting. Commentators take different views of Lavrov's comments.

The representatives of the US and Russia reiterated their respective positions during the talks on Ukraine in Geneva on Monday: Moscow wants a guarantee that Ukraine and Georgia will not be allowed to join Nato while Washington insists that the Alliance won't end its open door policy. Europe's press speculates on what will happen next - for example at today's meeting of the Nato-Russia Council.

The positions on Ukraine remain almost unchanged after the video summit between Biden and Putin. Washington interprets the presence of Russian troops near the border as an aggression and is threatening with sanctions, military reinforcements for Ukraine and the boosting of troops in eastern Nato states. Putin sees this as threats against his country. The press focuses on what the summit has achieved despite an apparent lack of progress.

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Wednesday in Geneva. While they agreed on the return of diplomats to their respective embassies, in other respects their discussion went no further than staking out their interests. In view of the tense relations between the two countries expectations were already rather low in the run-up to the meeting, and commentators also give a mixed assessment of its results.

The presidents of Russia and the US are meeting in Geneva today to discuss the pandemic, regional conflicts, and nuclear weapons. In the run-up to the summit Biden emphasised that in addition to engaging in dialogue he would be laying down red lines, while Putin declared that relations between the two countries were at a low point. In Europe's press, however, not everyone's expectations for the summit are low.

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed interest in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. One possibility would be a summit during Biden's European trip in mid-June. Russian media discuss which topics are conducive to consensus and how much leg-work the West needs to do in the run-up to a meeting.

On Tuesday, Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin and proposed a personal meeting - just a few weeks after criticising him in the strongest possible terms. Now the US government has imposed financial sanctions and expelled ten Russian diplomats after concluding that Moscow was responsible for a major hacking attack and interference in the 2020 US presidential election. European media try to make sense of the zigzagging.