U.S.-Russia summit stays civil despite clear differences
What happened
President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin said they had a “constructive” summit in Switzerland this week discussing cybersecurity, human rights, and Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, although the leaders offered few specifics and Putin refused to accept blame for recent cyberattacks against the U.S. Biden, who deemed Putin a “worthy adversary” ahead of the three-hour meeting, after earlier calling him a “killer” without a soul, brushed off questions about whether he could trust Putin, saying, “We need to have some basic rules of that road.” The two leaders agreed to conduct meetings on cybersecurity after a recent spate of attacks—including a Russian criminal group’s ransomware attack on a U.S. pipeline and the SolarWinds hack of U.S. government email—with Biden proposing 16 sectors of “critical infrastructure” that should be off-limits to cyberwarfare. They also pledged to return ambassadors to Moscow and Washington, D.C., and collaborate on nuclear arms control.
Putin praised the “very balanced” and “experienced” Biden and said there was “no hostility” between them. But though Biden says he warned Putin there would be “devastating” consequences if jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in custody, Putin refused to refer to Navalny by name when speaking with the press, instead pointing to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and saying, “We have no desire to allow the same thing to happen in our country.” Putin also rebuffed questions about human rights abuses in Russia by referencing gun violence and police shootings in the U.S., asking, “Who is the killer now?”
What the columnists said
This summit was striking for its “normality,” said Luke Harding in TheGuardian.com. Biden “cut a relaxed figure,” telling Putin he wanted a “predictable” relationship—a more modest goal than the sweeping “reset” sought by the Obama administration. This was a far cry from the “disastrous” 2018 Helsinki meeting with Putin and former President Trump, during which Trump’s groveling got so “humiliating” that his senior adviser Fiona Hill “considered bringing it to a close by whacking a fire alarm.”
On cybersecurity, said Martin Matishak in Politico.com, Biden says he warned Putin that the U.S. would retaliate with its own cyber operations if the Kremlin continues backing ransomware attacks and election interference. In a pointed question, Biden asked Putin how he’d feel if ransomware took down Russian oil pipelines, arguing that cyber détente is in their mutual “self-interest.” Although Biden wouldn’t spell out specific threats he made if Russian mischief continues, he said Putin “knows I will take action.”
But Biden doesn’t have much leverage, said Paul Waldman in WashingtonPost.com. If Russia continues violating norms, Biden says, Putin’s “standing” will be diminished, “which may not exactly have Putin quaking with fear.” Why should it? Putin’s efforts to destabilize the U.S. are going swimmingly—“just imagine how tickled he was to see a pro-Trump mob invade the Capitol.” The White House hoped this summit could help turn the page on the Trump era, but the damage Putin’s meddling did is “not so easily put behind us.”