At a press conference following the Brussels NATO summit, President Joe Biden gave his views of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, with whom he will be meeting this Wednesday in Geneva.
“He’s bright, he’s tough and I have found that he is... a worthy adversary,” Biden said, responding to a question on the forthcoming meeting. When asked whether he changed the view he held of Putin last March, when he said Putin was a “killer” who “has no soul,” Biden answered, “I don’t think it matters a whole lot in terms of this next meeting we’re about to have.”
Biden said he will convey to his Russian counterpart that there are areas upon which the United States and Russia can cooperate, “if he [Putin] chooses” to do so, and pledged to lay down “red lines.”
