Biden to Meet With the Guy He Called a 'Killer'

President, Vladimir Putin will get together next month in Switzerland
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 25, 2021 11:43 AM CDT
These Two Meet Again Next Month
In this March 10, 2011, file photo, then-Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow.   (RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin/Pool via AP, file)

President Biden will meet face to face with Vladimir Putin, the man he recently labeled a "killer," next month in Switzerland. The meeting will take place June 16 in Geneva, and the New York Times expects it to focus heavily on nuclear arms. But the pair should have plenty of other topics to discuss, including US intelligence agencies' belief that Russia interfered with US elections, the persecution of Alexei Navalny, Russian hackers' attacks on the US, and the occupation of Crimea, per Axios. The outlet notes that the meeting will be a test of Biden's pledge to hold Russia accountable for all of the above.

This will be the pair's first meeting since Biden became president, but they met before in 2011 when he was vice president. The Washington Post recounts that Biden said at the time that he looked into Putin's eyes and said, "I don't think you have a soul." According to Biden's telling, Putin smiled and responded, "We understand one another." Despite the appearance of rockier relations between the two compared to Putin and former President Trump, Biden has said the two nations must have "stable" and "predictable" ties. (More Vladimir Putin stories.)

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