US blames Russians for shoving match at start of Biden-Putin summit
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GENEVA — A chaotic start to President Joe Biden’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin left the American side irritated as the launch of talks between the heads of state was marred by abrasive Russian security and unruly journalists. In the ensuing finger-pointing, the U.S. side blamed the Russians.
“The Russians, of course, were the ones who were pushing people and causing problems, but it was just — that stuff, unfortunately, should not have happened,” a senior U.S. official said. “We've got to figure out to make sure those kinds of things do not happen.”
The scene played out hours before U.S. Secret Service agents pulled Biden's "Beast" limousine to the front entryway of the 18th-century villa hosting the event at around 11:15 a.m. ET, a couple of hours earlier than expected. The leaders, the White House said a few minutes later, had concluded both rounds of talks. Biden departed first after arriving second, with Putin slated to address the media first.
Both presidents brought journalists from their home countries to the small villa where the high-profile summit is taking place, and some of the journalists were slotted to join them for brief remarks from both leaders. A “shoving match began at a side entrance immediately” upon arrival at the villa, according to the White House pool reports chronicling the event, which prompted security officials to threaten to ban the media from the room entirely.
“The pool was repeatedly told to line up separately and in single file, but neither side did,” the pool report noted. “Instead, the journalists pushed and shoved trying to enter the building.”
The senior U.S. official floated the notion that Putin’s team intended for such a tumultuous scene.
“I don't really know, but I certainly wouldn't rule out that the Russian government may have tried to instigate problems,” the senior U.S. official said. “It's how they operate. ... When it comes to the press, this is not the first time I have heard that there was a kind of scrum behind the scenes because of pushing and shoving from the Russian side.”
That assessment is a small but telling sign of the deep distrust between the two governments.
“This is a sad reality of it,” the senior U.S. official said. “That's why we hope that this meeting will at least be the beginning of trying to restore some of that trust. But the trust deficit is quite heavy.”
In the event, only nine of the 13 American journalists slated to enter the book-lined room with Biden and Putin succeeded in doing so, “but we were pushed and shoved by security officials and Russian media,” the pool noted.
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The two presidents are expected to agree to begin an arms control dialogue. They may also agree to have the U.S. ambassador to Russia return to Moscow and the Russian ambassador to the United States return to Washington, but little else appears to be in the offing. “The bar is very low,” the senior U.S. official acknowledged.
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Tags: News, Foreign Policy, National Security, Russia, Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Switzerland, Media, White House
Original Author: Joel Gehrke
Original Location: US blames Russians for shoving match at start of Biden-Putin summit
