Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin an autocrat and warned that Russia is weaker than it looks

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that “autocrat” Vladimir Putin is correct that relations are at their lowest level in years, although he has suggested that Russia may be weaker than it is. appears and that Moscow has crossed the line in the Middle East.

Biden used the G7 summit in the English seaside resort of Carbis Bay to argue that the world’s richest democracies now face existential competition from the “autocrats” who will define the 21st century.

After attending the NATO summit on Monday, Biden will meet Putin on June 16 in Geneva in what promises to be a combative meeting after their differences over espionage, hacking, election interference, Ukraine, Belarus and human rights. .

Biden, who called the former KGB spy a murderer in March, said Russia displayed unacceptable behavior on several fronts, but also pointed to Russia’s own “dilemmas” – its post-Soviet economic collapse, this which he called his excess in Syria and your problems with COVID-19.

When asked why Putin – who has been Russia’s supreme leader since Boris Yeltsin resigned in 1999 – hadn’t changed despite years of Western sanctions, Biden joked: “It’s Vladimir Putin.” “Autocrats have tremendous power and they don’t have to respond to an audience, and the point is if I respond the same way, as I will, it might not deter him, he wants to move on. “said Biden.

The two former Cold War enemies have enjoyed a tumultuous relationship for years, although relations deteriorated after Putin attempted to rebuild some of the influence lost during the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. and began to interfere far beyond borders.

The United States and other Western leaders now view Putin and Xi Jinping’s China as their main strategic threats, though the Kremlin dismisses almost all accusations as fiction and says the West is in the throes of hysteria anti-Russian.

Biden also described Russia, which has an economy 13 times the size of the United States, as weaker than you might think.

“Russia has its own dilemmas, how to deal with its economy, COVID and not only with the United States and Europe for a long time, but also in the Middle East,” he said.

“Russia has engaged in activities which we believe are contrary to international standards, but it has also bit into real problems that it will have a hard time chewing,” he added.

G7 warning

The Group of Seven (G7) which make up Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom today demanded that Russia abandon its “destabilizing behavior” and continues “predictable” relations with the group in the context of a series of recommendations to the Russian government issued at the end of the Cornish summit (United Kingdom).

Russia, it must be remembered, was a member of the G8 at the time until it was excluded from the organization for its role in the war in Ukraine and after the group denounced the illegal annexation of the country. Crimea by Moscow, which argues that it was an incorporation ratified in a referendum. “We want to reiterate our interest in stable and predictable relations with Russia, with which we will continue to dialogue in areas of mutual interest,” the G7 said in the statement.

All in all, the G7 reiterates its appeal to Russia “Stop your destabilizing behavior and malicious activities, including your interference in the democratic systems of other countries and to comply with your international human rights obligations and commitments”.

In particular, ask Russia to urgently investigate “the use of a chemical weapon on its own soil” in reference to the attack on the opposition Alexei Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok, which Russia has also denied, and “end its systematic crackdown on civil society and independent media.”

More, he also calls on Moscow to “identify those within its borders who commit computer attacks and other cybercrimes”.

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