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The Russian president had expected 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 couldn’t have been certain that Putin would be re-elected to the Kremlin in 2012, but he feared. Joe Biden later told about the encounter in an interview. During a tour of the Kremlin, Putin suddenly got very close to him. “I said, Prime Minister, I look into your eyes and I don’t think you have a soul.” Putin smiled and said: “We understand each other.”
Vladimir Putin has long returned to the president of Russia and is taking his time to congratulate Joe Biden on his electoral victory. There was no response from the Kremlin until noon on Sunday. The little scene from 2011 describes quite well what Moscow expects of him. Certainly, there was no flattery like Donald Trump did, but harsher criticism. With Biden, it is hoped, the risk of further sanctions increases. At the same time, relations with Washington are once again more predictable.
Biden will apply more pressure
The Kremlin followed these US elections more dispassionately than four years ago. Putin has avoided praising Trump or badmouthing Biden. Perhaps he was undecided who was the lesser evil for him. Trump is the president who did not keep his promises to Moscow. Biden, the president, who makes no promises at all, but will exert more pressure. Relationships are at a low point.
The Democrat is expected to also watch what is happening inside Russia and in Moscow’s sphere of influence. Joe Biden will not only urge the Kremlin to respect human rights. During his visit to Moscow in 2011, he also met with opposition leaders, including Boris Nemtsov, who was later assassinated. At Moscow State University he spoke about the importance of “viable opposition” and “political competition.” And in January 2020, Biden promised in a newspaper comment that he would support Russian civil society, “which has repeatedly stood up to the authoritarian and kleptocratic system of President Vladimir Putin.”
This is exactly the kind of interference that the Kremlin demonizes. As the Kremlin remained silent, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny Biden congratulated him on Sunday on Twitter. 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 came out in favor of a strong NATO that would also have to face “non-traditional threats” such as corruption, misinformation and cyberattacks. Biden has many more reasons to die Russia Meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections to be added as Trump. He called the acting president “Putin’s puppy,” the puppy of the Kremlin chief. In an interview, Putin was happy with this quote, which in this context “actually increases our prestige” because it speaks of “our incredible influence and our power.” He then lamented Biden’s “sharp anti-Russian rhetoric.”
Donald Trump turned out to be of little use to the Kremlin. He was hopeful that Trump would reduce sanctions, improve economic relations, and improve Russia’s international status. Instead, Putin now complains that the Trump administration has punished Russia 46 times with new sanctions or by extending existing ones. “Sixty-four times, that has never happened before,” he recently told an investment forum.
Biden has an interest in gun control
That’s not all: under Trump, the United States left arms deals that Russia would have liked to receive. They also threaten the gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 with sanctions. Both could go better for Moscow after a change in the White House. Joe Biden is more likely than Trump to leave the Nord Stream 2 decision to the Europeans with whom he wants to improve relations. And unlike Trump, Biden has a genuine interest in gun control. The New Start nuclear weapons deal, which expires in February, was created during his time as vice president.
On the other hand, Joe Biden will fix relationships where Putin wants things broken. 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 conflict in Ukraine. Trump has weakened the alliance of Western democracies, alienated his NATO partners, and undermined trust in democratic institutions. Putin sees all of this as an advantage in itself.
