extent of the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty. can we test whether russia has any information at all in i wouldn t even say a partner i would say being open to hearing from us on these issues. one of the issues i m somewhat concerned about, we made some of the same arguments in the obama years. it s not in russia s interest to have a declining economy, it s not in russia s interest to be somewhat of a pariah in terms of records. i think putin doesn t care. as long as he s wealthy and in power and able to be taken seriously on the world stage, he s fine. even though there are other indicators suggesting russia is moving in the wrong direction. when you look at when this summit was announced, you had the hijacking of an airliner so it could be detained, you had
want to say differential but this was extra teenlic on putin, right? putin knows how to be nasty a lot. he chose not to do that on the world stage with the eyes of everybody watching him about what he would say about this conversation. frankly, president biden reflected some of that back making it very clear, this was not tense. it was not hostile. much was made in the hours earlier because we were look at the timing, 90 minutes, two hours, whatever. president biden s point was it was short because we got a lot of stuff done in not a long period of time. he s in the air. he hasn t landed yet in washington. he s coming under serious criticism from republicans who think he showed weak mes at this stumt, that he did not act appropriately on the world stage representing the united states. that s what he will have to face as he lands, as i m look at the capitol. the same republicans who had nothing to say about the hechlt lsinki summit that trump held.
took a picture of himself with his feet up on her desk was on russian state tv and the lead-up to the summit. so i think it s being presented as has always been, that putin is this calm, above-it-all, adult in the room. taking on russia s adversaries as an equal and recognized equal of these global superpowers and that, you know, he has again restored russia s prestige, that russia is no longer mocked or disregarded as people believe it was in the 90s. that now it s, you know, a giant on the world stage whose views have to be considered, whose leader has to be talked to. again in such with such fan fare and such global attention.
you could see him not really wanting it to end. he would say, okay, this is the last question, and then he would take a few more. i do agree with what ben rhodes said. putin doesn t really care about his position on the world stage. i think he decided after 2014, after the annexation of crimea and the u.s. sanctions and western sanctions that followed that it s better to be feared than loved, and fear is a kind of relevance and the fact that there is a media circus around this whole summit, that we re covering it live wall to wall, that twitter is part of it, there is a hoard of journalists there, i think that also gives putin a measure of i think he really benefits from this and he does get a lot of international relevance and relevance on the world stage from it. what about that, we heard from putin critics this week
goes by. nbc s keir simmons. keir, thanks to you and safe travels home. same to mike memoli who is about to make that trip as well. we keep our eye on this majestic plane known as air force one as it makes its way down the tarmac toward home to the united states. i want to bring in the former ambassador of russia who also helped it brief president biden ahead of this summit. i want to get your impression of everything we heard today, and i was struck to hear the president say to the reporters before he got onto air force one, to be a good reporter, you have to be negative. i understand that. he s not wrong. also to be a good reporter, you have to be a little skeptical. to be a good diplomat, do you have to be a little negative, a little skeptical and not necessarily be overoptimistic?