'Prudent': Biden's refusal to conduct joint press conference denies Putin a propaganda win, officials say

GENEVA — President Joe Biden’s refusal to participate in a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin reflects the deep, and bipartisan, distrust that exists between Washington and Moscow, according to Western officials.

“It’s a prudent decision, frankly, because, indeed, what has gone on beyond closed doors may be completely different from what goes on in the press conference,” a senior Baltic official told the Washington Examiner.

Biden sidestepped questions about their plan to make separate media appearances when their summit ends on Wednesday, telling reporters at the NATO summit that “this is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference.” Russian officials have a recent history of treating the press conferences as such a competition, as U.S. and European officials know, and the Kremlin chief’s political identity centers on his ability to stand as a rival in opposition to the United States.

“The reason why it certainly wasn't in our interest to have a joint press conference was again Putin's desire to be seen as on a par with the U.S. president — this is what he wants to get out of it,” a senior U.S. official told the Washington Examiner. “We’re certainly aware that that’s what he wants, but what we want to do is address some of these issues. We really want to get into the substance of this. I think the Russians are happier with the optics. How does it make Putin look?”

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The lack of a joint press conference takes some pressure off Putin, as well, by sparing him any public dressing-down from Biden amid a crackdown on allies of Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned survivor of an assassination attempt linked to Russian security services.

“It would be risky for both of them,” said former NATO chief strategic policy analyst Stefanie Babst, who held that post from 1998 to 2020. “Putin will certainly not want to be exposed to critical questions on what he does at home, how he treats opposition, why he is accused of meddling in elections. What about cyberattacks? What about the military buildup in Ukraine at the border some weeks ago? It’s these types of questions he doesn’t want to hear."

It is the first meeting between the two countries’ heads of state since 2018, when Putin and former President Donald Trump huddled in Helsinki and then held a joint press conference that turned into a public relations coup for Putin. That's because Trump sided with Putin over his own intelligence agencies about Russia's 2016 meddling in the U.S. election, angering even many GOP lawmakers. Russian officials have signaled their intention to renew the criticisms of U.S. intelligence agencies that led Trump to imply that he would take Putin’s word in defiance of his own administration.

“Let us hope the ‘highly likely’ accusations will give way to expert discussions based on facts about how to fix what can still be fixed," Russia’s Dmitry Polyansky, a diplomat at the United Nations, tweeted in a jab at the language used in public statements from U.S. intelligence agencies.

Biden, who hopes that the meeting will lead to “stable and predictable” relations with Russia, attended a NATO summit Monday and launched a Russia dialogue with the European Union on Tuesday in a show of unity prior to the meeting. The relationship is so strained that ambassadors on both sides are working from their home countries rather than in the embassies they lead.

“We are seeking three basic things: First, a clear set of taskings about areas where working together can advance our national interest and make the world safer,” a senior administration official told reporters. “Second, a clear laydown of the areas of America's vital national interests, where Russian activities that run counter to those interests will be met with a response. And third, a clear explication of the president's vision for American values and our national priorities.”

A public clash doesn’t necessarily create progress toward those goals. “If the objective of the entire exercise is to at least improve the atmosphere, the tone, to avoid public finger-pointing at each other, that's already an achievement,” Babst said.

Yet, Russian officials have a penchant for turning that desire into a diplomatic weapon against their Western counterparts, as the EU’s Josep Borrell can attest. The EU envoy held what he later described as a “heated” conversation in private with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who blindsided him with a series of public criticisms of the Europeans and the Americans that Borrell failed to counter.

“It was a propaganda exercise for the Russians,” the senior Baltic official said. “I would see reason why the United States president would not want to be part of a [Russian] propaganda [exercise].”

The senior Baltic official expressed confidence that as “a very experienced politician, of course, he would be able to handle [Putin’s] propaganda.” From the American perspective, the lesson of experience is that a joint press conference would give Putin the chance for a parting shot.

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“Do you give Putin a platform with which to show that he's on a par with the U.S. president?" the senior U.S. official said. "And do you give Putin an opportunity to put forth some kind of last-second proposal or initiative, that hasn't been discussed with the U.S., to try to put us off balance? And we don't want to see him do that because this is typical of the Russian playbook.”

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Tags: News, Foreign Policy, National Security, Joe Biden, NATO, Vladimir Putin, European Union, Russian Propaganda

Original Author: Joel Gehrke

Original Location: 'Prudent': Biden's refusal to conduct joint press conference denies Putin a propaganda win, officials say