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The Russian president had hoped for more from Trump’s term. But it will be even more difficult for Vladimir Putin under the new US president.
In 2011 they met in person: Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.
Photo: Alexander Natruskin (Reuters)
Joe Biden visited Moscow in 2011 as vice president. Vladimir Putin was prime minister at the time and practically took a forced break from the presidency. At the time, Biden could not have known for sure that Putin would be eligible to return to the Kremlin in 2012, but he feared. Joe Biden recounts the meeting later in an interview. During a tour of the Kremlin, Putin was suddenly very close to him. “I said, Prime Minister, I look you in the eye and I don’t think you have a soul.” Putin smiled and said: “We understand each other”.
Vladimir Putin has long been Russian president again and is taking the time to congratulate Joe Biden on his electoral victory. There was no response from the Kremlin until Sunday noon. The small scene from 2011 describes quite well what Moscow expects of him. Certainly no flattery as Donald Trump once did, but harsher criticism. With Biden, the risk of further sanctions is expected to increase. At the same time, relations with Washington are becoming more predictable again.
Biden will apply more pressure
The Kremlin followed this US election more dispassionately than it did four years ago. Putin has avoided praising Trump or speaking ill of Biden. Perhaps he was undecided as to who the lesser evil was for him. Trump is the president who has failed to keep his promises in Moscow. Biden the president, who doesn’t make promises, but will exert more pressure. Relationships are at a low point.
The Democrat is also expected to look at what is happening inside Russia and in Moscow’s sphere of influence. Joe Biden will not only warn the Kremlin to respect human rights. During his 2011 visit to Moscow, he also met with opposition leaders, including Boris Nemtsov, who was later assassinated. At the Moscow State University he spoke of the importance of “valid opposition” and “political competition”. And in January 2020, Biden promised in a newspaper comment that he would support Russian civil society, “which has repeatedly opposed President Vladimir Putin’s kleptocratic and authoritarian system.”
This is exactly the kind of interference the Kremlin demonizes. While the Kremlin was still silent, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny Biden congratulated him via Twitter on Sunday. Free and fair elections are “a privilege” that does not exist in all countries.
In the election campaign, Joe Biden called Russia the “greatest threat to America”. He argued for a strong NATO that should also address “non-traditional threats” such as corruption, disinformation and cyber attacks. Biden has far more reasons to die in Russia Interference in the 2016 US election to add like Trump. He called the incumbent president “Putin’s Puppy”, the puppy of the head of the Kremlin. In an interview, Putin was delighted with this quote, which in this context “actually increases our prestige” because it speaks of “our incredible influence and power”. Then he complained about Biden’s “strong anti-Russian rhetoric”.
Donald Trump actually proved of little use to the Kremlin. He had hoped that Trump would reduce sanctions, improve economic relations and improve Russia’s international status. Instead, Putin now complains that the Trump government has punished Russia 46 times with new sanctions or extended existing ones. “Sixty-four times – it has never happened before,” he said recently in an investment forum.
Biden has an interest in arms control
That’s not all: under Trump, the United States left arms deals Russia would have liked to receive. They also threaten the pipeline project Nord Stream 2 with penalties. Both could do better for Moscow after a change in the White House. Joe Biden is more inclined than Trump to leave the decision on Nord Stream 2 to Europeans with whom he wants to improve relations. And unlike Trump, Biden has a genuine interest in arms control. The New Start nuclear weapons agreement, which expires in February, was created during his time as vice president.
On the other hand, Joe Biden will also mend relationships where Putin wants broken things. Because Trump’s “America First” policy has also benefited the Kremlin. In Syria he practically left the field to Putin, but showed little interest in the Ukrainian conflict. Trump has undermined the alliance of Western democracies, alienated his NATO partners, and undermined trust in democratic institutions. Putin sees this as an advantage in itself.
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