Free Republic

Geneva, Switzerland (CNN) — US President Joe Biden said he had discussed the cases of two Americans detained in Russia during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, pledging to "follow through" on that discussion. "I raised the case of two wrongfully imprisoned American citizens, Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed," Biden said during a news conference Wednesday following the summit in Geneva. "The families of the detained Americans came up and we discussed them. We're going to follow through with that discussion. I am not going to walk away on that," he added. A senior State Department official...

President Biden’s high-stakes summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up earlier than anticipated — with American reporters left in the dark and initially dependent on Russia’s Foreign Ministry for information on the discussions. The talks ended at 5:05 p.m. local time after an introductory sit-down at 1:39 p.m. — meaning the entire summit lasted less than four hours, rather than the four to five hours predicted by the White House.

President Joe Biden will be holding a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week. It is doubtful Putin will find the encounter as enjoyable as the love fests he shared with former President Donald Trump. Trump made it abundantly clear that he wanted to be buddies with the Russian autocrat. When American intelligence agencies said the Russians had interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Putin denied it, Trump believed Putin. When Ukrainian officials asked Trump to help them defend themselves against Russian attacks, Trump took it as an opportunity to try to coerce the Ukrainians...