What's 'mysterious' about the hotel where the meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden could take place?
The Geneva hotel, where the Russia-US summit may take place on June 16, is fully booked from June 11 to 18, but the scene does not look like it is preparing for the conference, Sputnik correspondent reported.
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| The Russia-US Summit between Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden in Geneva is scheduled for June 16. Source: Getty |
According to Swiss media, the first meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden will take place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev held talks in 1985. Neither side has officially confirmed or denied this news.
"We cannot comment on this news," a hotel staff member said when asked to confirm that rooms could not be booked at the hotel from June 11-18.
The staff also refused to comment in any way on rumors that the summit would be held at the Intercontinental.
In recent days, there has been no clear sign that the hotel is preparing for a large-scale event.
The Intercontinental Hotel is famous for hosting talks in Geneva. It is located near the UN, as well as the permanent missions of the Russian Federation and the United States. Here, in 1985, Reagan and Gorbachev met, and in March 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held her first talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who at the end of the talks received a "Restart" button from his US counterpart. Intense negotiations on the nuclear deal with Iran and inter-Syrian negotiations under the auspices of the UN also took place here. Russian and US delegations often hold bilateral meetings at this hotel, including on disarmament issues.
Recently, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev met here with his counterpart, US Assistant to the President for National Security Jake Sullivan.
