Biden Reportedly Refused to Hold Joint Presser With Putin to Avoid Helsinki Scenario

Moscoe (Russia), June 13: US President Joe Biden has decided to hold a separate press conference after a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin due to the unfavourable impression Donald Trump left after his summit with the Russian president back in 2018, the New York Times newspaper said on Saturday, citing the Biden administration.
The Putin-Biden summit is scheduled for 16 June in Geneva. Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with CNN that Putin was ready to take part in a joint press conference or hold one of his own.
The NYT newspaper, however, said that Biden's top aides were wary about the joint presser and tried to avoid the scenario of the Helsinki summit in 2018. Back then, former US leader Donald Trump welcomed Putin's statements about non-interference in the 2016 presidential elections in the US, dismissing data presented by the national intelligence.
"We expect this meeting to be candid and straightforward, and a solo press conference is the appropriate format to clearly communicate with the free press the topics that were raised in the meeting", a White House official said in a statement, cited by the outlet.
Trump's statement, in this regard, was "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory", the newspaper quoted as saying late US Senator John McCain.
Source: Sputnik