President Joe Biden’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was the biggest test so far from the 78-year-old’s first term.
And critics said he showed up to the test with multiple “cheat sheets.”
Business and Politics Review reported that Biden was seen “fiddling with anti-Trump DOJ cheat sheet for pre-selected presser questions” ahead of the meeting in one photo —
Biden fiddling with anti-Trump DOJ cheat sheet for pre-selected presser questions https://t.co/oplbS73snw
— Jack Furnari (@JackFurnariUSA) June 16, 2021
And The New York Post reported that during the high-stakes summit, Biden was seen with a different “cheat sheet” in his coat pocket.
“The US President could be seen holding a white sheet of paper in his hand, appearing to hide it from Putin’s gaze,” The Sun reported.
Biden appears to have 'cheat sheet' at summit meeting with Putin https://t.co/cNaSCPwr5Z pic.twitter.com/1oC1yKSv1Y
— New York Post (@nypost) June 16, 2021
Despite the gaffes, there was some good news from the meeting for the United States.
Putin said he and Biden agreed in a “constructive” summit Wednesday to return their nations’ ambassadors to their posts and begin negotiations to replace the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons — a longtime goal of former President Donald Trump that was never finalized.
The two sides had said they expected to meet for four to five hours but spent much less time together, just under three hours including an opening meeting with just the two presidents and each one’s top foreign aide.
Putin acknowledged that Biden raised human rights issues with him, including the fate of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Putin defended Navalny’s prison sentence and deflected repeated questions about mistreatment of Russian opposition leaders by highlighting U.S. domestic turmoil, including Black Lives Matter and the Jan. 6 riots.
Putin said he and Biden agreed to begin negotiations on nuclear talks to potentially replace the New START treaty limiting nuclear weapons after it expires in 2026.
Washington broke off talks with Moscow in 2014 in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and its military intervention in support of separatists in eastern Ukraine. Talks resumed in 2017 but failed to produce a final agreement on extending the New START treaty during the Trump administration.
The Russian president said there was an agreement between the leaders to return their ambassadors to their respective postings. Both countries had pulled back their top envoys to Washington and Moscow as relations chilled in recent months.
Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, was recalled from Washington about three months ago after Biden called Putin a killer; U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan left Moscow almost two months ago, after Russia suggested he return to Washington for consultations. Putin said that the ambassadors were expected to return their posts in the coming days.
Biden nodded when a reporter asked if Putin could be trusted, but the White House quickly backtracked.
On social media, the Biden administration scrambled to insist Biden was “very clearly not responding to any one question, but nodding in acknowledgment to the press generally.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article