This press conference could not have been more different to the last one between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. That was in 2018, when the US leader appeared to side with Russia’s intelligence agencies over American ones on the subject of interference during the 2016 election.
But American and Russian leaders have a long history. Bilateral meetings between Putin and his United States counterparts were a regular occurrence early in his 25-year tenure. But as tensions mounted between Moscow and the West following the illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and allegations of meddling in the 2016 US elections, those meetings became more infrequent and their tone appeared less friendly.
Putin and Biden: Putin and Joe Biden met only once while Biden was in office, in Geneva in June 2021, while Russia was massing troops on the border with Ukraine. They spoke again via videoconference six months later, when Biden threatened sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine. Another phone call came in February 2022, less than two weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden meet in Geneva in June 2021, before the Ukraine invasion.Credit: AP
Putin and Trump: Putin met Donald Trump six times during Trump’s first term, at and on the sidelines of G20 and APEC gatherings, but most famously in Helsinki in July 2018, when Trump stood next to Putin and appeared to accept his insistence that Moscow had not interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. Since Trump returned to the White House this year, he and Putin have had about half a dozen publicly disclosed telephone conversations.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018.Credit: AP
Putin and Obama: Barack Obama met with Putin nine times, and there were 12 more meetings with Dmitry Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012. Obama travelled to Russia twice, to meet Medvedev in 2009 and for a G20 summit in 2013. Medvedev and Putin also travelled to the United States. Obama cancelled a visit to Moscow in 2013, after Russia granted asylum to former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. Putin and Obama last met in China in September 2016, on the sidelines of a G20 summit, and held talks focused on Ukraine and Syria.
Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama in China in September 2016.Credit: AP
Putin and Bush: Putin and George W. Bush met 28 times, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. They hosted each other for talks and informal meetings in Russia and the US, and met regularly on the sidelines of summits and forums. Putin was the first leader to call Bush after the September 11 terrorist attack, offering his condolences and support.
Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush in Texas in 2001.Credit: AP
Putin and Clinton: Bill Clinton travelled to Moscow in June 2000, less than a month after Putin was inaugurated as president. The two had a one-on-one meeting, an informal dinner, a tour of the Kremlin, and attended a jazz concert. They discussed arms control, turbulence in Russia’s North Caucasus region, and the situation in the Balkans. The two also met in 2000 at the G8 summit in Japan, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and at the APEC summit in Brunei.
Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton meet in Japan in July 2000.Credit: AP
AP