Did Joe Biden finally exorcise the ghost of Helsinki? “I did what I came to do,” he declared on Wednesday, at the end of an afternoon summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking to reporters in brilliant sunshine outside an eighteenth-century villa in Geneva, where the two had concluded several hours of discussion, Biden insisted that he left the meeting with a “genuine prospect” for improved relations with Russia. He also announced further talks, on nuclear arms and cyberwarfare, that may or may not lead to new agreements. Just as newsy as the meeting’s limited concrete outcomes was the image of an American President standing up to Putin in all the ways that Donald Trump – the last American President to meet Putin – never did.
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Susan Glasser: Biden just had a summit with Putin and nothing crazy happened
US President Joe Biden (L) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd R) at the 'Villa la Grange' in Geneva on June 16, 2021.
