Ahead of summit, Putin hopes Biden is less impulsive than predecessor Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes that Joe Biden is less impulsive than former president Donald Trump, ahead of his first summit with the new US leader in Geneva, reported AFP. Putin described Biden as a “career man” who spent his life in politics after the “colourful” Trump, in an interview with NBC News. 

According to a translation by the media house, Putin said, “It is my great hope that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements on behalf of the sitting US president.” 

Also Read | In Vladimir Putin-Joe Biden phone call, some ‘concerns’, and a proposal

In the summit, Biden plans to raise the range of US complaints including the purported Russian election interference and hacking. Earlier, Putin had openly admitted that in 2016 he supported Trump, who had voiced admiration for the Russian leader and notoriously at the first summit appeared to accept his denials of election interference. 

Also Read | ‘Prepared to take further actions’: US President Joe Biden warns Moscow

However, Biden has said that he is under no illusions about Putin and described him as a “killer” in light of a series of high-profile deaths including of Kremlin critic Boris Nemstov. Putin was asked if he is a “killer,” to which he said that the term was a part of “macho behavior” common in Hollywood. Such discourse “is part of US political culture where it’s considered normal. By the way, not here, it is not considered normal here,” he added.