Putin: "In the US people die every day" 3:52
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Frida Ghitis (@fridaghitis) is a former CNN producer and correspondent, she is an international affairs columnist.
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(CNN) -
Images, body language, and surroundings converged to help President Joe Biden achieve what he wanted: not just from his much-publicized summit with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, but from a week of pivotal meetings with allies of the United States.
From the start of the Geneva summit, Biden seemed confident and relaxed.
By contrast, Putin, who has made an art of looking smug and almost bored, seemed tense and on guard.
Then Biden took the initiative, extending his hand first to Putin, who reached over to grab it.
The summit mattered, of course, but it was in the press conference duel that Putin helped Biden achieve his goals.
That's because Biden's meeting with Putin had two goals.
One was about the management of US relations with Russia.
The other was the main theme of his trip to Europe and, indeed, of the Biden presidency: strengthening democracy by drawing a clear distinction between it and authoritarianism, while persuading the world that democracy is the superior model.
ANALYSIS |
Putin got exactly what he wanted from Biden in Geneva
Global Challenges |
The peak of the thaw: Biden and Putin see each other
In his press conference, Putin, in a true autocratic way, did not take responsibility for anything and clumsily tried to defend himself against accusations of human rights abuses by highlighting social problems in the United States.
Perhaps after years of cracking down on independent media in Russia, it has lost its ability to answer tough questions, like those asked by American journalists.
"If all your political opponents are dead, in prison, poisoned," asked an ABC News reporter, "doesn't that send a message that you don't want a fair political fight?"
But Putin once again sidestepped the issue, comparing the January 6 insurgents in the United States with the democratic dissidents his government is suppressing in Russia, a comparison that Biden rightly called "ridiculous."
Five conclusions from the summit between Biden and Putin
While Putin answered all the questions about repression and human rights with his classic fallacious arguments, Biden, on the contrary, spoke about everything that is wrong in the United States, when he spoke to the media, he explained that he told Putin that his agenda is "not against Russia" but "for the American people," and that means that he still has a responsibility to speak out about human rights.
Critics said Biden was wrong to elevate Putin's position with a world summit.
After all, Putin is the autocratic leader of a contracting economy slightly larger than Spain's and a lower per capita income than Costa Rica's.
But Russia, a nuclear-armed country, has become an active enemy of democracy in the West.
It works to discredit the system and make it dysfunctional.
And it has been so successful that much of the Republican Party is now spreading the kind of disinformation that Russian hackers used to struggle to spread.
By meeting Putin and letting him show his trademark evasive style, Biden was able to use the Russian president for support, a show for his campaign to show that authoritarianism is an evil force.
Yes, the two leaders reached some agreements, such as allowing retired ambassadors to return to their assigned capitals and committing to initiate a "strategic dialogue" to avoid an accidental war.
They will also look for advances in nuclear weapons control, possible prisoner releases, and other areas.
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Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin shake hands at the start of the summit that took place in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, and lasted more than 4 hours.
Look in this gallery for some of the highlights of the long-awaited meeting.
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Biden and Putin before the first meeting.
The president of the United States assured that his "agenda is not against Russia or against anyone."
(Credit: Mikhail Metzel / Pool Photo via AP)
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The summit was a large bilateral meeting between the teams of Russia and the United States, the first part of which took just over 90 minutes and the second session, one hour, with a 45-minute break.
(Credit: Mikhail MetzelTASS via Getty Images)
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After his meeting with Putin, Biden gave a press conference in which he assured that his agenda "is for the benefit of the American people."
(Credit: Pool)
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Putin called the summit with Biden "constructive" and said it "took place in an atmosphere aimed at achieving results."
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"When we have differences, I want President Putin to understand why I say what I say, and why I do what I do," Biden said after the summit (Credit: Brendan SmialowskiAFP via Getty Images)
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Putin and Biden together with the President of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin, who was the host of the summit held in Geneva.
(Credit: SAUL LOEB / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
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Joe Biden, arriving at the villa of La Grange, in Geneva, where the summit with Vladimir Putin was held.
(Credit: Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
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Putin upon being received by the President of Switzerland, Guy Parmelin.
The Russian president said there was no invitation from Biden to visit the White House.
(Credit: SAUL LOEB / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) were other participants at the summit.
(Credit: Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)
Overall, however, the meeting was a loss for Putin, who sounded defensive and cryptic.
He refused to speak the name of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, blaming him for his own situation amid a series of falsehoods, and denied any responsibility for the recent cyberattacks in the United States.
And yet he went out of his way to say he respects Biden, calling him "an experienced statesman ... very different from President Trump," a comparison that is sure to hurt his predecessor.
Biden seemed satisfied when it was over, and seemed convinced that he had drawn some clear red lines in the roughly 160 minutes of face-to-face meetings.
Biden gives Putin some sunglasses 0:42
The contrast of the Putin summits with Trump vs.
Biden
The visual contrast could not have been sharper since the last US-Russia summit, when the Russian president was so self-satisfied and the US president looking intimidated and making such counterproductive remarks than Trump's own adviser at the time, Fiona Hill said she considered feigning a medical emergency - "a creepy loud scream" - to stop it. Instead, instead of the complacent and dejected ex-president, Biden seemed invigorated against the bright outdoor backdrop. He explained why it is important that the two countries work together whenever possible and try to manage their differences when they cannot.
Biden said he gave Putin a list of 16 key US entities, defined as critical infrastructure, that are off-limits to cyberattacks. As he was preparing to leave, a journalist asked him if a "military response" from the United States would be an option for a
ransomware
attack
. His response: "We do not discuss a military response." However, if Navalny dies in prison, Biden warned, "the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia."
In what seemed like a slip, the president of the United States lost his temper near the end of his press conference.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins had asked why he trusts Putin will change his behavior, and Biden replied, "I'm not sure he will change his behavior."
He later said he shouldn't have been "such a tough guy" and owed Collins an apology.
Biden scolds journalist for question about Putin 0:50
Putin may have felt that he had secured the image he yearned for, that of an equal to the United States.
But broaden the lens beyond Geneva, beyond Russia, and this summit was part of a larger Biden agenda.
"I did what I came to do," Biden declared before returning home.
And with that, Biden concluded his first international trip, having begun the process of strengthening the alliances that Trump had eroded, increasing the world's confidence in America's leadership, and successfully drawing a contrast between an autocratic and repressive leader in power. because he has crushed his opponents, and a democratically elected one, fighting anti-democratic forces at home and abroad.
Joe BidenVladimir Putin
