BILATERAL MEETINGS BETWEEN PUTIN AND HIS U.S. COUNTERPARTS WERE A REGULAR OCCURRENCE EARLY IN HIS TENURE.

 

BUT AS TENSIONS MOUNTED BETWEEN MOSCOW AND THE WEST THOSE MEETINGS BECAME INCREASINGLY LESS FREQUENT, AND THEIR TONE APPEARED LESS FRIENDLY.

 

HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT PAST MEETINGS BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND U.S. PRESIDENTS:

 

PUTIN AND JOE BIDEN MET ONLY ONCE WHILE HOLDING THE PRESIDENCY –- IN GENEVA IN JUNE 2021.

 

AT THE TIME, RUSSIA WAS AMASSING TROOPS ON THE BORDER WITH UKRAINE AND WASHINGTON WAS REPEATEDLY ACCUSING RUSSIA OF CYBERATTACKS.

 

PUTIN AND BIDEN MET FOR 3 HOURS.

 

AND IN 2022, RUSSIA INVADED UKRAINE.

 

DURING HIS FIRST TERM, DONALD TRUMP AND VLADIMIR PUTIN MET SIX TIMES, MOST FAMOUSLY IN HELSINKI IN JULY 2018.

 

THAT’S WHERE TRUMP STOOD NEXT TO PUTIN AND APPEARED TO ACCEPT HIS INSISTENCE THAT MOSCOW HAD NOT INTERFERED WITH THE 2016 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND OPENLY QUESTIONED THE FIRM FINDING BY HIS OWN INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES.

 

BARACK OBAMA MET WITH PUTIN NINE TIMES, AND THERE WERE 12 MORE MEETINGS WITH DMITRY MEDVEDEV, WHO SERVED AS PRESIDENT IN 2008-12.

 

IN 2014, THE KREMLIN ILLEGALLY ANNEXED CRIMEA AND THREW ITS WEIGHT BEHIND A SEPARATIST INSURGENCY IN EASTERN UKRAINE.

 

THE U.S. AND ITS ALLIES RESPONDED WITH CRIPPLING SANCTIONS.

 

PUTIN AND GEORGE W. BUSH MET 28 TIMES DURING BUSH’S TWO TERMS.

 

THEY HOSTED EACH OTHER FOR TALKS AND INFORMAL MEETINGS IN RUSSIA AND THE U.S., MET REGULARLY ON THE SIDELINES OF INTERNATIONAL SUMMITS AND FORUMS, AND BOASTED OF IMPROVING TIES BETWEEN ONETIME RIVALS.

 

IN 2002, THEY SIGNED THE STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE REDUCTIONS TREATY -– A NUCLEAR ARMS PACT THAT SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED BOTH COUNTRIES’ STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WARHEAD ARSENAL.