Garry Kasparov, a Russian chess grandmaster and longtime critic of President Vladimir Putin, says the former KGB agent “got what he wanted” in his summit with President Joe Biden in Switzerland on Wednesday.
Kasparov said on Twitter that the European Union “keeps caving in to Putin without American leadership. Biden was supposed to stop that, even campaigned on it. He called Putin a killer — correctly. But looking tough in Geneva or using strong words doesn’t matter. Action matters, and so far Biden is failing that test.”
“We know the summit is good for Putin, or he wouldn’t do it. And everything Trump did was about Trump. But Biden? It’s not about him. To give such a gift to a killer who attacked the US, you have to make the case to the American people and he hasn’t tried,” he told his 640,000 followers.
We know the summit is good for Putin, or he wouldn’t do it. And everything Trump did was about Trump. But Biden? It’s not about him. To give such a gift to a killer who attacked the US, you have to make the case to the American people and he hasn’t tried.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) June 16, 2021
In an appearance on MSNBC, the world chess champion said “the idea of inviting Putin was a mistake, and it gave Putin… a huge platform.”
“The only good news,” he said, “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.”
Show host Andrea Mitchell asked Kasparov if there was anything tangible that Biden got out of the summit that would make him say “that would make you think this was worth doing.”
“You don’t make progress with a thief who robbed your house by talking with him in Geneva. Of course Putin enjoyed it. And again, I was pleased to see that the meeting was much shorter than expected. Now it’s not about Biden being tough while just putting in an ultimatum. It’s about actions. And so far, Biden was failing the test,” Kasparov said.
Retired Gen. Jack Keane, former vice chief of staff for the U.S. Army, agreed, saying on Fox News that “Putin, I think, got more out of it than he expected given the major concessions that were made prior to the summit, and that he was able to deny and deflect the major issues.”
“There’s not much evidence for President Biden’s objective to improve the relationship so that it’s more stable and predictable. It’ll take some time to see if that has been achieved, I think the early signs are that it has not,” said Keane, a Fox News senior strategic analyst.
Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday was “a good day for Russia,” adding that “I don’t see what we got out of it.”
“We didn’t get anything. We gave a very big stage to Russia, and we got nothing,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “We gave up something that is unbelievably valuable. I stopped the pipeline, Nord Stream [2], and that pipeline was stopped. It was given back and nothing was gotten for it.”