MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) - The image of U.S. President Joe Biden "drawn by the press" differs from reality: this is a professional, and one needs to pay very close attention when working with him so as not to miss anything, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"The image of Biden drawn by both our and even the American press has nothing to do with reality," Putin said at a meeting with talent pool program graduates of the Graduate School of Public Management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) on Thursday.
Biden came from overseas and had a long trip across Europe, which means he crossed a number of time zones, Putin said. Nevertheless, Biden "looked fresh, we talked one-on-one for two hours or maybe more. He is fully aware of the material," he said.
"He might have looked at his notes from time to time - we all do that. However, the image they draw of him may be very relaxed, but relaxing is not the thing to do. Biden is a professional, one should be very observant when working with him in order not to miss anything. He misses nothing, I can assure you," Putin said.
Biden is "focused, understands what he wants to achieve, and does this very skillfully," Putin said. "And you feel this immediately," he added.
The atmosphere of the talks was very welcoming, Putin said. "It seems to me, we managed to understand each other and each other's positions on key matters. They differ in many respects, and we determined where they differ," he said.
"But at the same time, we also determined the areas and points where we can talk about possibly bringing our positions closer together in the future. There are things that are an absolute priority and interest for both us and the U.S.," he said.
As to the allegation that Biden sometimes "gets things confused," Putin noted that White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki "gets things confused herself," because the Americans believe that there is nothing more important than them and that all other things are of secondary importance.
"As to him getting things confused sometimes, he has a press secretary, who is a young, educated, and beautiful woman. She gets things confused herself all the time. But this is not because there's something wrong about her education or because she has a poor memory. It's just because people think sometimes that some things are of secondary importance and they don't really focus their attention on them. But the Americans believe that there's nothing more important than themselves. Well, this is their style, and there's nothing unusual about that," Putin said.