Blinken downplays Biden-Putin meeting

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday downplayed the upcoming meeting between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the event “is not going to be a flip-the-light switch moment.”

When asked by host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” how he defines success out of the meeting with Putin, Blinken said Biden will “make clear” to the Russian president that “we seek a more stable, predictable relationship with Russia.”

“And if so there are areas where our interests overlap and we may be able to find ways to work together. But if Russia chooses to continue reckless and aggressive actions, we will respond forcefully as the president’s already demonstrated that he would when it comes to election interference or the SolarWinds cyberattack or the attempt to murder Mr. Navalny with a chemical weapon,” Blinken said, referring to jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.

He added that the meeting is “a beginning of testing” the question of “whether Russia is interested in a more stable and predictable relationship, and finding areas to work together.”

Blinken cautioned, however, that “we’re not going to get the answer out of one meeting,” adding “we’ll have to see what comes from that meeting.”

Biden is scheduled to meet with Putin on Wednesday, after summits with the Group of Seven (G-7) leaders and NATO.

Putin last Friday expressed optimism about working with Biden, saying that he believed the sitting president would not make any “impulse-based movements.”

“He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics,” Putin said of Biden. “That’s a different kind of person, and 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 U.S. president.”