Following the Geneva summit, Putin praised Pita as a “professional”
3 min read“Mr. Biden is a professional, and you have to be very careful when you work with him so that you do not miss anything,” Putin told a video conference with graduates of Russia’s Graduate School. “He himself did not miss a thing. I assure you, it was absolutely clear to me.”
“I say it again: he is focused, he knows what he wants to achieve, he does it very efficiently, you can feel it immediately,” the Russian president added.
Putin has set a different tone than pro-Kremlin Russian political commentators, who view Democrats as highly hostile to Russia and want to use human rights as a pretext to allow and insult Moscow.
Despite some clear results from the summit, the two leaders seemed to take advantage of the opportunity to measure another. Speaking to reporters after the hour-long closed-door summit, President Biden described the meeting with Putin as “positive”, while the Russian president said talks with members of the press were “constructive”.
Speaking during his own hour-long news conference shortly after Biden, Putin called the talks “constructive” and said he had come up with a generally positive view of the US president.
“It is clear he is a balanced and professional man, he is very experienced,” Putin said. “It seems to me that we spoke the same language.”
‘Very friendly’
Speaking to graduates the next day, Putin described the atmosphere at the summit as “very friendly”.
“We understand each other and I think that’s where we stand on key issues,” Putin said.
“Many of them are not visible to us, we have pointed out these differences, but at the same time we have identified areas or points that can be discussed and acted upon to achieve more cohesive levels in the future,” he added.
The Russian president addressed a number of key issues for Russia and the United States, including regional conflicts, climate change and cyber security.
“I hope the situation will change in recent years, and he can act calmly,” Putin said.
“For our part, we will defend our interests and we are ready to resume the dialogue as soon as the US side is ready,” he added.
“We will, for our part, defend our interests,” he said.
Putin also reportedly sent a sexual note to White House press secretary Jen Zack.
“It is true that she is sometimes confused … her press secretary is a young, educated and beautiful woman, and she is confused at all times,” Putin said according to the transcript.
Kevin Liptak of CNN in Geneva, Darya Tarasova in Moscow and Nada Bashir in London contributed to the report.
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