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President Biden has refused to condemn Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin or detail expected goals ahead of the summit between the two leaders in Geneva later this week.
“The last thing I want to do is negotiate in front of the world press as I approach a crucial meeting with an opponent and/or someone who could be an adversary,” Biden said when asked to clarify the agenda for the White House meeting.
Biden, who has for years portrayed Putin as an aggressor and dictator, used softer language when he described the Russian leader in Brussels on Monday night.
“He’s smart, he’s strong, and I found him to be – as they say when I was playing ball – a ‘worthy opponent’.
Biden indicated that he was willing to share more after the meeting ended. When asked if a meeting with Putin early in his presidency sparked any fear among international allies, Biden said all of his conversations were supportive.
“Every world leader here is a member of NATO… He thanked me for meeting Putin now. Every one who spoke said. “They thought it was entirely appropriate for me to do so.”
President Biden at the NATO Summit in Brussels on Monday. (Olivier Hoslet/pool via AP)
Pressure has continued on Biden to condemn Putin and the Russian government after multiple rounds of cyber attacks linked to Russian nationals targeting critical parts of US infrastructure, including a major gasoline pipeline. After a round of cyber attacks in April, the Biden administration issued sanctions against more than a dozen Russian individuals and entities linked to election interference. Concurrently, Biden signed an executive order enabling the United States to impose sanctions on parts of the Russian economy at its own discretion.
However, Biden faced criticism at the time for neglecting to pressure Putin over the mistreatment and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a phone call.
Asked by a reporter how the United States would respond to Navalny’s ongoing abuse that could end the opposition leader’s life, Biden indicated that he would not give Russia a free pass.
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“Navalny’s death will be another indication that Russia has little or no intention of upholding basic human rights. It will be a tragedy and will do nothing but harm,” he said. [Putin’s] Relationships with the rest of the world, from my point of view and meaning.”
When asked about the fact that Putin laughed when a reporter mentioned Biden calling him a “murderer,” Biden replied, “I laugh too.” He agreed with Putin’s assessment as a killer during an interview in March, which drew the Kremlin’s rebuke.
“It’s not about trust, it’s about consent,” Biden added on dealing with Putin. “When you write treaties with your opponents, you don’t say ‘I trust you’, you say ‘That’s what I expect, and if you violate the agreement you made, then the treaty is stopped, then the agreement is stopped.
Putin enjoyed a warm relationship with former President Donald Trump, who frequently praised the Russian leader. After a meeting in Helsinki in 2018, Trump said he believed Putin and not US intelligence agencies when it came to Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump defended the Helsinki summit in a statement last week and mocked his successor, saying: “Good luck to Biden in dealing with President Putin – don’t fall asleep during the meeting, and please extend my warmest regards!” During his press conference, Biden denounced what he called Trump’s “pseudo-populism.”
Biden answered questions from traveling journalists during the NATO summit in Belgium as part of his first international trip since taking office. He started with a meeting of G7 leaders in Cornwall, England, and is due to return to Washington on Wednesday after meeting Putin.
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