Biden ‘did what he came to do,’ adviser says of president’s meeting with Putin

President Biden achieved his modest goals for last week’s summit with his Russian counterpart, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.

At their much-anticipated Geneva meeting, Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to minor steps on arms control and restoring diplomatic ties but didn’t achieve any kind of major breakthrough on issues long plaguing the Washington-Kremlin relationship.

“He did do what he came to do,” Sullivan said of Biden on ABC’s “This Week.”

The adviser praised the U.S. president for achieving a new phase of nuclear arms control and voicing concerns about human rights abuses in Russia.

The leaders also agreed to return their respective ambassadors to their posts, following a row that led them to go back to their home countries in the spring.

While Biden pressed Putin on cyberattacks, the Russian strongman didn’t appear to give any ground, insisting that the Kremlin had nothing to do with recent major hacks of U.S. infrastructure.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (r.) on Sunday said President Biden "wants to be able to have a space, to be able to engage directly, privately, candidly with President Putin, and then to determine whether the actions that Russia takes in the months ahead match up with the discussions that took place in Geneva." (Doug Mills/)

“We had these meaningful engagements on the security and diplomatic side that we believe will put this relationship on more stable footing,” Sullivan said.

Republicans have attempted to cast Wednesday’s summit as showing Biden is weak on Russia, in spite of the widely held view that Republican former President Donald Trump had a cozy relationship with Putin.

Fiona Hill, who was a foreign policy adviser under Trump, on Sunday said the recent meeting would boost Putin’s standing at home.

“In terms of the symbolism of having a sitdown with the American president, absolutely — that is a very important win for Putin,” she told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Sullivan echoed Biden’s comments that time will tell if the U.S.-Russia relationship is improving.

“Our goal at the end of the day is a stable, predictable relationship where we’re not going to be friends by any stretch of the imagination but where we can reduce the risk of escalation that would ultimately harm America’s interests,” he said.

With News Wire Services