Analysis: Biden talks down Russia, spurs allies in bid to back Putin into a corner

Aides said Biden wanted to send a message that Putin was isolating himself on the international stage with his actions, ranging from election interference and cyber-attacks against Western nations to his treatment of domestic critics.

Analysis: Biden talks down Russia, spurs allies in bid to back Putin into a corner

But Biden could struggle in a parallel attempt to stop the rot in U.S.-Russia relations and deter the threat of nuclear conflict while also talking down Russia, some observers said.

"The administration wants to de-escalate tensions. It's not clear to me that Putin does," said Tim Morrison, a national security adviser during the Trump administration. "The only cards he has to play are those of the disruptor."

Officials on both sides had played down the chances of major breakthroughs at the talks, and they were right. None materialized.

But the two leaders pledged to resume work on arms control as well as cyber security and to look for areas of possible cooperation, signs of some hope for a relationship between two countries with little common ground of late.

Ties were already frayed when Biden, at the start of his administration, repeated his description of Putin as "a killer." That deepened a diplomatic rift that saw both countries withdraw their ambassadors from each others' capital.

Echoing an approach by former President Barack Obama, who called Russia a “regional power” after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Biden sought to cast Russia not as a direct competitor to the United States.

Speaking after his meeting with Putin, Biden said Russia wants "desperately to remain a major power."

"Russia is in a very, very difficult spot right now. They are being squeezed by China,” Biden said before boarding his plane out of Geneva, quipping that the Russians “don't want to be known as, as some critics have said, you know, the Upper Volta with nuclear weapons." Biden was referring to the former French West African colony, which changed its name to Burkina Faso.

Biden also pointed to the troubles of Russia’s economy and called out Putin on Russia’s detention of two Americans, and threats toward U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

American businessmen “don’t want to hang out in Moscow,” he said.