U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney is questioning President Joe Biden’s decision to meet this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin during an international summit.
Cheney appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show Thursday morning to talk about her distrust for the Russian president and her belief Biden shouldn’t give the Russian president a platform.
“It was unfortunate that President Biden decided to go to this meeting with Putin,” she said on the radio program. “We see this again and again where U.S. presidents don’t recognize that meeting with Putin gives him a platform on the world stage.”
Biden and Putin met for three hours on Wednesday to discuss cyberattacks, the conflict in Ukraine, arms control and more, according to The Associated Press.
Cheney said Biden should clearly communicate by his actions that he won’t stand for the alleged misconduct of Putin and other Russians, such as their influence in the 2016 election. She added Biden and his administration did not appear to have a strategy before attending the meeting with Putin.
“I think there were some other things President Biden should have been doing rather than that,” she said.
According to CNN, the U.S. and Russia reached several agreements during the meeting, including the decision to allow each other’s ambassadors to return to their posts. Russia’s ambassador to the United States was called back to Moscow in March after Biden referred to Putin as a “killer,” while the American ambassador to Russia returned to Washington, D.C., in April.
The two leaders also agreed to establish task forces to deal with cyberattacks.
