Joe Biden calls Vladimir Putin a ‘worthy adversary’ ahead of Geneva meeting

US President Joe Biden said he would lay down “red lines” to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at their upcoming meeting, after rallying Nato allies to face up to challenges from Moscow and Beijing. Speaking after his first Nato summit since being elected, Biden insisted: “I’m not looking for conflict with Russia, but that we will respond if Russia continues its harmful activities”. Biden also called Putin “tough” and “a worthy adversary” ahead of their hotly anticipated meeting in Geneva on Wednesday. The warning to the Kremlin leader came as Biden pressed to renew Washington’s transatlantic ties with allies after years of tensions under his predecessor Donald Trump. At Biden’s urging, Nato leaders agreed to work together against the “systemic challenges” posed by China’s aggressive policies as the alliance fleshed out its nascent approach to Beijing. China’s increasingly assertive actions in building a nuclear arsenal as well as space and cyber warfare capabilities threatens the international order, they said in a statement. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the allies would seek to cooperate with China on global issues like climate change, as European capitals wanted. But, in a nod to Washington’s growing concern, he warned: “China’s growing influence and international policies present challenges to Alliance security.” “Leaders agreed that we need to address such challenges together as an alliance, and that we need to engage with China to defend our security interests,” he said. In the summit communique, the leaders told Russia that there would be no quick return to “business as usual”. Russia’s military build-up and provocative behaviour on Nato’s eastern frontier “increasingly threaten the security of the Euro-Atlantic area and contribute to instability along Nato borders and beyond”. On China, Biden is picking up from where Trump left off by getting Nato to start paying attention to Beijing. Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin to hold first summit in Geneva on June 16 But European allies have been wary that an increase of focus on China could distract Nato from its major priority – Russia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that alliance members should not “overestimate” the dangers posed from Beijing. “We have to find the right balance,” she said. “China is a rival on many issues, but at the same time it is also a partner on many issues.” French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that Nato should not spread itself too thin and “skew” the relationship with China. “Nato is a military organisation, the subject of our relationship with China is not only military,” he said, stressing Nato’s north Atlantic focus. Looming large in the background for the summit was also the scramble to complete Nato’s hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan after Biden surprised partners by ordering US troops home by September 11. Biden discussed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an offer from Ankara to keep troops in the country to secure Kabul airport – provided the US gave support. Erdogan announced no firm deal on the issue – or any progress on the thorny dispute over Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile system. Vladimir Putin threatens to ‘knock out the teeth’ of Russia’s opponents But Erdogan insisted that he had held “fruitful and sincere” talks with his US counterpart. The final Nato summit statement did not mention Turkey’s role at the airport, but did stress that the alliance would continue to pay to keep the facility open. Biden also warned Putin about Alexei Navalny, a political opponent who was jailed when he returned to the country following treatment in Germany for a poisoning believed to be an assassination attempt. “Navalny’s death would be another indication that Russia has little or no intention of abiding by basic fundamental human rights,” Biden said. “It would be a tragedy.” “It would do nothing but hurt his relationships with the rest of the world, in my view, and with me,” he said of Putin. In an interview with NBC News, the Russian leader deflected questions about his crackdown on political dissent by suggesting that hundreds of people arrested for storming the US Capitol on January 6 are under “persecution for political opinions”. Biden was likely to pressure Putin over his efforts to stifle his political opponents, including Navalny. A Russian court recently outlawed Navalny’s movement as an extremist group and thousands of his supporters have been imprisoned for protesting his arrest. Frail-looking Alexei Navalny mocks Putin as ‘naked, thieving king’ at court hearing “You are presenting it as dissent and intolerance towards dissent in Russia,” Putin said in a portion of the interview aired Monday. “We view it completely differently.” Putin denied that the Russian government was behind Navalny’s poisoning last year, saying: “we don’t have this kind of habit, of assassinating anybody”. The Russian leader also said the Kremlin was not responsible for a series of cyberattacks against the US. “We have been accused of all kinds of things,” Putin said. “Election interference, cyberattacks and so on and so forth. And not once, not once, not one time, did they bother to produce any kind of evidence or proof. Just unfounded accusations.” Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg

Joe Biden calls Vladimir Putin a ‘worthy adversary’ ahead of Geneva meeting

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Biden will meet Putin for the first time as US president on Wednesday The US-Russia relationship has hit a post-Cold War low

Biden will meet Putin for the first time as US president on Wednesday

The US-Russia relationship has hit a post-Cold War low