MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday set a tough tone for his summit with President Joe Biden, accusing Washington of trying to contain Russia and citing its response to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as a manifestation of the West's double standards.
Speaking at an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Putin said arms control, global conflicts, the coronavirus pandemic and climate change are among the issues he and Biden would discuss at their June 16 summit in Geneva.
"We need to find ways of looking for a settlement in our relations, which are at an extremely low level now," Putin said. "We don't have any issues with the U.S. ...But it has an issue with us. It wants to contain our development and publicly talks about it. Economic restrictions and attempts to influence our country's domestic politics, relying on forces they consider their allies inside Russia, stem from that."
He voiced hope that the meeting will help ease tensions. Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to post-Cold War lows over Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, accusations of Russian interference in elections in the U.S. and other Western nations, and cyberattacks that U.S. officials allege had Russian origins.
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Putin reiterated that Russia rejects accusations of interfering in U.S. presidential elections and he spoke critically of the U.S. response to the Capitol attack, which took place as Congress prepared to certify that Biden had defeated then-President Donald Trump in the November election.
"They weren't just a crowd of robbers and rioters. Those people had come with political demands," he said.
Putin pointed out that the heavy charges against hundreds of participants in the attack were filed even as the U.S. and its allies strongly criticized Belarus' crackdown on anti-government protests. Even as the West has criticized Russian authorities for a harsh response to anti-Kremlin demonstrations, he charged protesters in Europe have faced an even tougher police response, with some shot in the eye by what he mockingly called "democratic rubber bullets."
In separate comments to Russia's Channel 1 state television, Putin added that he doesn't expect any breakthroughs from the summit with Biden, but added that he hopes that it will help "create conditions for taking further steps to normalize Russian-U.S. relations."
He praised Biden as a "very experienced statesman who has been involved in politics for his entire life ... and a very prudent and careful person. I do hope that our meeting will be positive," Putin said.
The Russian president also derided the allegations of Russians' involvement in the hacking of a U.S. pipeline and a meat plant that have clouded the atmosphere before the summit.
"I do hope that people would realize that there hasn't been any malicious Russian activity whatsoever," he said. "I heard something about the meat plant. It's sheer nonsense. We all understand it's just ridiculous. A pipeline? It's equally absurd."
Putin said "the U.S. special services should track down those ransom seekers. It's certainly not Russia that would extort money from some company. We don't deal with chicken or beef, it's plain ridiculous."
He alleged the hacking accusations were aired by those who try to "provoke new conflicts before our meeting with Biden," and added that even some in the U.S. doubted Russian involvement in the hacks.
"It means that inside the American society, media and political class there are people who want to find ways to repair U.S.-Russian relations," he said.
On other issues, Putin praised his country's response to the covid-19 pandemic and called for a stronger worldwide response to global warming as he sought to bolster Russia's international standing.
Addressing the forum, Putin lauded the efficiency of Russian-designed vaccines and bemoaned what he described as "politically motivated bans" on their purchase in some countries. Last year, Russia boasted of being the first in the world to authorize a vaccine, but it has since moved slowly in giving shots to its population.
The slack pace of vaccination has been partly attributed to public skepticism about the vaccine amid controversial signals from the authorities. Experts have questioned whether Russia will be able to meet the government target of vaccinating more than 30 million of the country's 146 million people by mid-June and nearly 69 million by August.
Putin again urged Russians to move quickly to get shots and he invited foreigners to Russia to get vaccinated, saying he would instruct the government to facilitate that.
