'5 hours, no meals': What Biden-Putin marathon summit maybe like

The first face-to-face meeting between Joe Biden since he became US president in January and Russia's Vladimir Putin could run four to five hours or beyond while they discuss arms control, cyber-hacking and election interference.

The issues may be vexing, but the surroundings will be lush and serene when the US and Russian presidents meet on Wednesday in a stately 18th century villa overlooking Lake Geneva.

US President Joe Biden steps off Air Force One at Cointrin airport as he arrives ahead of a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, June 15, 2021. (REUTERS)

The first face-to-face meeting between Joe Biden since he became US president in January and Russia's Vladimir Putin could run four to five hours or beyond while they discuss arms control, cyber-hacking and election interference.

But in a sign of the strained ties, it will not include any meals and the two will hold separate news conferences rather than a joint one.

"No breaking of bread," a senior U.S. official told reporters as Biden flew to Geneva for the talks, scheduled to begin about 1 p.m. (1100 GMT) in Villa La Grange, an elegant gray mansion set in a 30-hectare (nearly 75-acre) park.

Putin arrives first at the villa, where the two will meet Swiss president Guy Parmelin before starting their talks in the library, which contains historic leather-bound volumes, including works in Chinese, French, Persian and Turkish.

The authors represented among the thousands of books at the villa include Charles Pictet de Rochemont, a Swiss diplomat who prepared the Swiss declaration of permanent neutrality - itself likely a factor in the choice of Geneva for the summit.

(Reporting By Steve Holland and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minn.; Editing by Howard Goller)