Biden warns he’ll tell Putin ‘what I want him to know’ as he defines goals of foreign tour
CNNFALMOUTH, England CNN — President Joe Biden told a hangar of US troops on Wednesday he was in Europe to defend the very concept of democracy, setting high stakes for his first presidential trip abroad and warning Russian President Vladimir Putin he planned to raise touchy issues during their upcoming summit. “I’m headed to the G7, then to the NATO ministerial and then to meet with Mr. Putin to let him know what I want him to know,” Biden said at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England – home to an American refueling wing and the site of Biden’s first presidential speech on foreign soil. I’m going to communicate that there are consequences for violating the sovereignty of democracies in the United States and Europe and elsewhere.” Before he meets Putin in Geneva next week, Biden is holding consultations with European leaders at the G7 in Cornwall and the NATO summit in Brussels. We’re going to meet it though from a position of strength.” He laid out a lofty goal for his first trip abroad, suggesting no less than democracy itself was at stake as he works to convince world leaders that, after four years of President Donald Trump, the US commitment to trans-Atlantic ties is back for good.