JOE Biden said today he was avoiding a joint press conference with Vladimir Putin next week because he was not interested in getting into a “contest”.
It comes after a US official confirmed Putin would be denied the opportunity to stand by Biden while answering questions from the press in Geneva on Wednesday.
The White House is reportedly reluctant to grant Putin yet another prominent platform and place to put Biden at the mercy of comments made by his Russian counterpart.
Speaking at a G7 press conference in Cornwall, UK, Biden said: "This is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other.
"It is about making myself very clear what the conditions are to get a better relationship with Russia. We're not looking for conflict."
When asked about the relationship between the US and Putin, he said: "Well let me be clear, I think he's it's a low point."
It comes after Putin yesterday chillingly laughed off Biden’s previously made claim he was a "killer".
This is not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other
During an NBC interview in which he heaped praise on "extraordinary" Donald Trump, he branded Joe Biden "a career politician".
The long-serving Russian leader also bizarrely chortled at allegations he had a hand in assassinating some of his political rivals and Kremlin critics.
Following this, a White House spokesman said: "A solo press conference is the appropriate format to clearly communicate with the free press the topics that were raised in the meeting, both in terms of areas where we may agree and in areas where we have significant concerns."
The White House said the meeting would involve "a working session and a smaller session", without giving further details.
A host of issues are on the table as the two men meet, including US concerns about Russian sabre-rattling on the Ukrainian border, the imprisonment of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, and Putin's support for Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko.
Biden also blames Russia for the massive SolarWinds cyberattack, election interference, and harboring criminals behind a spate of ransomware attacks.
Washington has insisted for weeks now that its aim is to make relations between the two countries more "stable and predictable".
The joint press conference that followed the meeting between Biden's predecessor Donald Trump and Putin in Helsinki in July 2018 is still fresh in the memory in the United States.
Trump caused an outcry in his own camp by indicating he accepted the word of Putin above the conclusions of his own intelligence agencies that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 US presidential election campaign.
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