President Joe Biden scoffed at criticism over his plans not to hold a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the pair’s highly anticipated meeting next week.
“This is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other,” Biden told reporters in England on Sunday. “It’s about making myself very clear what the conditions are to get a better relationship with Russia.”
Biden agreed with Putin that relations between the two countries are at a “low point” after tensions escalated over 2016 election interference.
BIDEN FALLS INTO PRESIDENTIAL TRAP BY PRESSING MANCHIN AND SINEMA, EXPERTS SAY
The U.S. president was adamant he is not “looking for conflict” with Putin when he broaches a range of familiar and emerging threats, including the rise in ransomware cyberattacks. He also described Putin’s suggestion of a prisoner swap in response to the hacks as “potentially a good sign of progress.”
Biden insisted he is entering the talks clear-eyed, after years of U.S. sanctions against Russia have failed to bring the country into compliance with liberal democratic norms. At the same time, his opinion is that Russia has bitten off “some real problems,” which he predicted Putin would have trouble chewing on.
“There’s no guarantee you can change a person’s behavior or change the behavior of their country,” Biden said.
The White House announced Biden’s summit with Putin in Geneva on Wednesday will include “a working session and a smaller session, as well as a solo press conference.”
“A solo press conference is the appropriate format to clearly communicate with the free press the topics that were raised in the meeting,” the White House said in a statement.
During his press conference after the G-7, Biden touted his work so far “reestablishing American credibility among our closest friends.”
“America’s back in the business of leading the world alongside nations who share our most deeply held values,” he said.
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Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States gathered in England for the past three days as part of the first in-person meeting of high-level foreign dignitaries since the start of the pandemic. They leave the southwestern English city of Cornwall on Sunday, agreeing to take joint actions countering corruption, ransomware attacks, and forced labor in global supply chains.
