Five takeaways from the Biden-Putin summit | TheHill

The last time President BidenJoe BidenMellman: Trump voters cling to 2020 tale FDA authorizes another batch of J&J vaccine Cotton warns of China collecting athletes' DNA at 2022 Olympics MORE met Russian President Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich PutinHillicon Valley: Big Tech critic Lina Khan named chair of the FTC | Lawmakers urge Biden to be tough on cyber during summit with Putin | TSA working on additional security regulations following Colonial Pipeline hack Overnight Defense: Top admiral shoots back at criticism of 'woke' military | Military guns go missing | New White House strategy to battle domestic extremism Lawmakers urge Biden to be tough on cybersecurity during summit with Putin MORE, he says he told the Russian leader he didn’t believe he had a soul.

The summit — the final engagement on Biden’s weeklong trip to Europe — came amid tensions around Ukraine, the treatment of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, recent cyberattacks and allegations of election meddling.

Biden instead sought to frame the meeting as an exercise in worldly pragmatism.

Rather, he held out the possibility that the Russian leader could burnish his country’s reputation over time by staying within international norms.

At the same time, if Biden had contrived a dramatic blowup, it would have raised new questions about why the U.S.

This view — which replicates the talking points of the most fervent supporters of former President TrumpDonald TrumpKushner lands book deal, slated for release in 2022 Biden moves to undo Trump trade legacy with EU deal Progressives rave over Harrison's start at DNC MORE — irked Biden when it was put to him at his news conference.

Much of the commentary that initially followed Wednesday’s summit measured Biden’s performance against that of his predecessor.

The Russian president — a KGB agent at the time the Soviet Union crumbled — is sensitive to any diminution of his country’s importance.

Criticisms of Biden’s decision to propose the summit centered on the idea that the event was sure to elevate Putin.

The Russian president certainly seemed to relish the spotlight.

While he complained about American double-standards on issues like human rights, he was at pains to point out that the atmosphere at his meeting with Biden had been constructive.

One critic, the former chess champion Garry Kasparov, complained on MSNBC that Putin had “got what he wanted” simply by virtue of the summit taking place.

The summit provided some positive mood music for Biden and Putin, but it is unclear whether it presages any real change.

Putin said the two nations had agreed that their ambassadors, who had been recalled to their home countries this spring, would return to their posts soon

Asked at his news conference whether he trusted Putin, the president pushed back against the terms of the question