Garry Kasparov, chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, former World Chess Champion and staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, mocked President Joe Biden’s decision to hold a summit with Putin in Geneva, Switzerland.
WATCH: Russian pro-democracy activist Garry Kasparov says President Biden's meeting with President Putin gave Putin a larger platform.@Kasparov63: "The only good news about the meeting, the summit, it was shorter than expected, so there was not much damage done." pic.twitter.com/tU3e3Bmd7a
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 16, 2021
A transcript is as follows:
CHUCK TODD: What did you see today with Putin? What is a pitfall you worried President Biden needs to avoid? And how much do you play diplomat Joe Biden if you’re Joe Biden today versus pushing back on Putin on the world stage?
GARRY KASPAROV: I’ve been saying all along that Biden didn’t have to be at this meeting in the first place? The idea of inviting Putin was a mistake and gave Putin a platform. Putin got a huge platform. What Biden got was nostalgia. I guess he’s been dreaming of being president since 1988, back in the Cold War, and that was his dream like at Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and now he got this moment. That’s it. The only good news about the summit is it was shorter than I expected, so there was not much damage done. But Putin got what he wanted.
“That’s why he was beaming with joy when he left the summit and went into the press conference,” Kasparov added.
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