Parts of Geneva like a ghost town ahead of the Biden-Putin summit

Temporary security fencing is already in place around Parc La Grange and the adjacent Parc des Eaux Vives.

With five days still to go before the US President Joe Biden meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, the area around the 18th century Villa La Grange, where the summit will take place, is already beginning to look like a ghost town. Vehicles which hadn’t been moved from the area around the villa by the stipulated noon deadline yesterday have been towed away by police. The vehicle ban around Parc La Grange won’t be lifted until the 17th of June. 

In the run up to the summit, the secure zone, announced by Geneva authorities this week, will be extended to cover parts of the shore of Lake Geneva, a section of the lake and both Parc La Grange and Parc des Eaux Vives.  In addition, from next Monday until next Thursday, flights of drones will be banned in the canton of Geneva. 

Bitter disputes over election interference, cyber-attacks, human rights and Ukraine hang over the first face-to-face meeting between the two presidents since Biden took office at the beginning of this year.

 

 

More from Bitesize News

  • Citizenship remains one of the hardest on continent

    The Council of States has rejected a popular initiative that would have let foreigners apply for citizenship after just five years, closing the parliamentary door on the biggest attempt in years to loosen one of Europe's strictest naturalisation regimes

  • More gun crime in Annemasse

    Seven people are in French police custody after a shooting Monday evening at a drug-dealing spot in Ville-la-Grand, on the edge of Annemasse

  • Geneva land ownership change

    The canton of Geneva is set to become the sole owner of the land beneath Stade de Genève, buying out a parcel held by federal railways CFF for CHF 15.84 million

  • Agriculture warning after record breaking summer

    Farmers warn that another summer like this one would eat through their remaining reserves and force cuts to herds and crops

  • SNB interest rate stable

    The Swiss National Bank has kept its key interest rate at zero, sticking with a policy that has held since June 2025 even as oil-driven inflation ticks higher

  • Phone company going to court

    A Swisscom technician who spent 38 years at the company says he was fired for helping his 80-year-old neighbour cancel a subscription she never wanted

Download our app

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play