Not friends, few benefits: Biden to take ?calculated risk? in Putin summit

So it’s no surprise then that despite his numerous meetings on his first foreign trip — including with G-7 world leaders, NATO and EU leaders — that the week has been overshadowed by the looming Putin summit, scheduled for Wednesday in Geneva.“Restoring diplomatic presence, that's a good thing,” said Michael McFaul, former ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama. stands up and calls Putin out publicly on various things, then he's gonna look better than Trump did in Helsinki.” Biden will meet with Putin in two sessions at an 18th-century Swiss villa overlooking Lake Geneva; the first will be a smaller group followed by a meeting with a larger group of aides, according to a White House official. After the meeting, Biden will hold a solo news conference, instead of a joint one with Putin.Biden’s aides say the president will press Putin directly on cyberattacks, human rights and Russian aggression in Ukraine. Biden, then vice president, met face-to-face with Putin, then Russia’s prime minister, in March 2011 in Moscow.Biden later told a journalist that he turned to Putin and said, “Mr. Prime Minister, I’m looking into your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul.” According to Biden, Putin smiled and replied, “We understand one another.”Link Copied © 2021 POLITICO LLC