Meeting with russian president Vladimir Putin in a decade, with two leaders meeting. Talking about Cyber Attacks, ukraine and americans being held inside russia. No concrete solutions announced, but the two sides agreed to begin talks on The Groundwork For Future Arms Control and Risk Reduction measures. Now after the summit concluded, putin held a News Conference in which he said the talks were very constructive. Translator i believe there has been no hostility. On the contrary, our meeting took place in a constructive spirit. Indeed, we have assessment on a number of issues, but both sides expressed the intention to understand each other and to seek common ground. Talks were quite constructive. For his part President Biden shared the same sentiment during his News Conference, but he did get a little testy, as he was leaving when a reporter asked him if he was confident that putin would change his behavior. When did i say i was confident . I said what i said was lets get it straight. I said what will change the behavior is the rest of the world reaction which diminishes his standing in the world. Im not confident of anything. Im just stating the facts. Reaction from switzerland and moscow. Nbc News White House correspondent monica alba in geneva, keir simmons in russia, michael mcfaul, former u. S. Ambassador to russia and msnbc analyst. He is also in geneva and ben rhodes, former National Security adviser. And msnbc contributor. Monica, President Biden holding this meeting with President Putin. What comes next . What are the tangibles about what we can expect things to go from here . Reporter there were a couple of indications, ayman, of things we can expect to see in terms of incremental progress, particularly when it comes to malaysias for both counties, with both leaders committing to make them go back to their diplomatic posts, restoring them after, of course, we saw tensions so high that neither were able to be in moscow and washington, d. C. , respectively. We know that at least in terms of an actual deliverable or outcome, even though theres no firm timetable. In terms of how the president views anything else from this he said, look, this is really a starting point. In his words, i did what i came to do, the u. S. President saying he did confront putin on a range of issues. And one area where they have said they will Work Together and cooperate is in a Bilateral Dialogue when it comes to strategic stability. So, committing to continue the conversation on arms control. Thats something that was widely expected. And you heard the president there refer to a timeline. Thats where he flashed some anger, because there was a question of what happens now. He said in three to six months, they will sort of do a Progress Report based on the topics covered in todays discussion. But he didnt want to get ahead of that, saying instead east of didnt see any threats with either leader here, that the conversation was good and positive, as he put it. Putin saying instead it was constructive and that there was no hostility. But the next steps here, the u. S. Is really going to have to assess whether russia follows will you on some of these things. And in terms of outcomes that are unpredictable, in terms of alexy navalny, for instance, the president deliver aid stern warning and said there would be consequences if he were to die while in russian custody. We also know he discussed these cases of paul w hechl lan and trevor reed. President biden felt this was a good start. One thing we were tracking all day, they did meet for less than they anticipated but President Biden said he felt it was completely enough time after just two hours with the leaders actually together over the course of a fourhour summit total. He said putin and him looked at each other and in effect said, okay, whats next . We can wrap this up. Go do our individual Press Conferences and go from there. That was the other very significant point to underscore, the fact that the american president got the last word. That was something by design white house officials wanted to see and felt quite good about how that played out here in geneva, even though the president had the moment at the end that he had to apologize for once he got to the tarmac before taking off on Air Force One, headed back to washed, ayman. Monica, stay with me from geneva. We want to cross over to see what all of this meant for the russian public and the kremlin. Keir, Vladimir Putin said todays talks were quite constructive, segment and biden can agree on. You sat down with him for that exclusive interview before todays summit. Does it sound as though Vladimir Putin got what he was looking for from this meeting with joe biden . Reporter yeah, frankly, i think it does. President putin is flying back right now to moscow and to the kremlin behind me here. And i suspect hes feeling relatively pleased with himself, Russian Media portraying him as a statesman, portraying the summit as historic. Yet what you saw am that News Conference with President Putin is the same man who i sat down with for that interview before the summit. Just one quote from President Putin from that News Conference, everything that has deteriorated in our relationship was initiated by the United States. So you didnt see President Putin walking out at any moment during that News Conference while saying he wants to talk and considers the relationship to be constructive, at no point did he say here is something that we didnt do right or here is something that we think we can change, as the kremlin. You didnt hear that. Now, you did hear a similar story from both president s, kind of a time will tell message. In relation to President Putin, you said he did say that President Biden raised the question of those u. S. Prisoners held here in russia, trevor reed and paul whelan and said we might be able to find some kind of compromise. Of course, that will raise the hopes of their families. Not a dissimilar message to what President Biden had to say, which is well just have to see how things go in the months ahead. I think the cynical side, though, ayman, is that weve seen this story before, where President Putin presents himself as prepared to negotiate whilst denying everything, and then we dont make much progress because effectively it may be that inside the kremlin, they think that this strategy of attacking and threatening and then negotiating is an effective one. It has managed to improve russias standing and President Putin, in particular, standing on the world stage. So why would they abandon that . The jury is out, frankly. President biden was honest about that before he headed back to washington. Ambassador mcfaul, as weve mentioned, you were one of the people who helped President Biden prepare for the summit. We are now on the back end of this day. We have a better sense of what happens come out of it. What is your view on how it went and what it means Going Forward for u. S. russia relations . Staes exactly what i expected and exactly what we talked about. They agreed to begin strategic Stability Talks. They used capitals to make it sound like it would be a formal process. Thats a good sign. They agreed their ambassadors would go back to work. I want it remind everybody, putin pulled his ambassador from washington. So, were just restoring something that he did himself. We didnt pull our ambassador. And there was some, you know, tiny, tiny, baby steps about maybe well have some conversations about cyber and on iran, that was important. On syria. They went through the litany of bilateral and multilateral issues without any deliverables on that long list. As the president himself said, i think it was a great quote. He said the proof will be in the pudding. They established a dialogue. They set out some aspirations but whether or not they can achieve anything on that agenda, well have to wait and see in the future. Ambassador, why was it important to do this in person, given what you just said and the fact that some of this was initiated by Vladimir Putin, the withdrawing of the russian ambassador, even though this meeting was initiated by the white how. Why couldnt this have been done through the phone or normal diplomatic channels if there wasnt concrete deliverables that were set out . Well, President Biden, rightly said in my view, that facetoface contacts matters and he wants to establish that dialogue. Remember, they only met once, to the best of my nonl, ever. That was ten years ago. I was at that meeting, by the way. He wants to have some kind of direct dialogue. And i think thats the right approach. Having said that, what i fear is that by doing that, and say we want a stable and predictable relationship, that means were going to lock in to place and not deal with all the belligerent behavior of Vladimir Putin over the last several years. Remember, he annexed crimea, he annexed a countrys territory. He violated our sovereignty. He tried to kill people in nato countries. And we just cant forget about that in the name of having a stable relationship. That, of course, is what Vladimir Putin wants. And i think the challenge for President Biden, as he goes home, he had his engagement play. He did that today. He made small steps toward that. Now his homework back home is to have a more robust, Deterrent Strategy or containment strategy for stopping and resisting those belligerent things that putin has been doing for the last several years. Ben rhodes, word of the day, perhaps, is consequences. I think thats the word that most people have been using in terms of what the United States should be prepared to do to deliver what ambassador mcfaul was highlighting, a litany of violations committed by russia. What were your sxeks for this meeting . Do we have a clearer sense whether or not the United States, after today, is prepared to exact consequences for the aggressions as ambassador mcfaul described them, being committed by russia . I think it wept as i expected, too. For putin, the achievement is the meeting itself, on equal par with the president in this third country, geneva. The eye of the world is on this summit. And he wants to give the impression that things are normalized. Theres a pragmatic relationship with the United States. Because, as mike alluded to, that belice the fact that he has been on this Asymmetric Offensive against the United States, our dem kras and the liberal and National Order for years now. Of course, he wants to act like everything is resolved. The question is clearly in that one on one meeting, when it was just the two Foreign Ministers in there with the president s, what biden did was laid out. Here are my concerns on cyber, on alexey navalny, ukraine. A whole host of issues. He laid down the benchmark, this is what im seeing that im concerned about. If you dont do something, youll get a response from us. Now you have to watch the next six months, nine months to a year. And President Biden was candid to see we dont know where this is going to go. If we continue to see this vicious crackdown weve seen against any political opposition inside and outside of russia, if we continue to see Saber Rattling deeper into ukraine, then what does the Biden White House and Biden Administration do in response . When joe biden has to call him, when those consequences might have to be pursued hes going to say remember when we sat down face to anyways geneva and i told you, the benefit is to lay it out and youre going to refer back to this summit in your subsequent conversations with putin. I want to draw on your experience from the National Security council when you were there and what came out of the last couple of days, not just today, was nato saying theyre prepared to deal with Cyber Attacks under article v, an attack on one Member Nation would be an attack on all. Does the United States, does nato have a clear definition of what a cyber attack being carried out by russia under article v would look like or constitute nato articles 5 v that would bring about a response . Thats a great question. Article v is an armed attack object one is an attack n all and has only been invoked after 9 11. Warfare changing and there are certain kinds of Cyber Attacks that can reach a scale that requires allied response. Theres infrastructure thats so critical to our National Security and wellbeing that you would kind of consider it to be something of an act of war, albeit asymmetric warfare. And so i think this agenda represents the alliance beginning to get its arms around this issue. Weve seen russia engaged in cyber activity not just against the United States but against our allies. If we can figure out ways to collectively respond to that in terms of strengthening, hardening our defenses and in terms of preprizals. Monica, obviously in the hours to come, well probably hear more from the white house, certainly from aboard those in Air Force One and when they land back in washington. Whats the initial readout from the white houses perspective . Did they think that the summit was successful even if the two leaders spent less time together than expected . Reporter it does appear that way, ayman. I think theyll broaden this out from an argument from the white house that the entire trip, in their view, was successful. If we look to the washington postoped that joe biden himself penned right before he left to come on this multicountry trip, he said his main goal was to rally the worlds Dem Krass Against Autocracy to confront the threats from china and russia. What we saw here accomplished the latter. In terms of the former, you saw the white house hinting in terms of what they were able to do at the g7, nato and at the eu summit yesterday, they feel like theyre coming away with almost everything on their list checked off. Thats how theyll frame it. Yes, of course, the Highlight Harky event we saw unfold in switzerland. Theyre going to try to make the case, i anticipate. And you heard the president in his own Press Conference try to preview this as well, that this was far more global, far more big in its approach and that, i believe, theyre going to say was accomplished at least in the short term. In terms of what happened here today with President Putin, we knew that the stakes were low in terms of the expectations, critical discussions. But the white house really did want to try to underpromise a little bit so that they could overdeliver. That will still be something we have to discuss with experts in terms of what it can do for u. S. russia relations. In the initial readout, absolutely, the white house will try to claim victory because the summit didnt deinvolve or get derailed in any way. If that was the bar, they certainly feel they cleared it at this point, ayman. Keir, having covered both syria and the iran nuclear talks, if you were in damascus and watched ut what played today, would you think that russia willing to cooperate the United States on these two issues. Generally how do you think those two capitals would look at the meeting that took place today and the news lines that came out of them . Reporter i think in those two capitals, ayman, they view the russia policy, putins policy, standing by its friends to put it in the most simplistic way, as pretty solid and dont think theyll be worried at all about this News Conference. Interesting you mention iran, of course. As you know all too well, iran preparing for elections. Those elections will be crucial for the jcpoa, the nuclear talks. Thats where things may get very interesting. President biden has managed to get some kind of communication with the president of the russian and whether any kind of a nuclear deal can be done. Opposition in congress. It is really a huge challenge and at the same time, a huge deal. Before we finish here, ayman, the details are crucial but also the optics. The meeting started on time, a victory for the biden team, getting putin there on time. The other point, though, the Russian Media is pointing out that u. S. Media got tough questions to President Putin at his News Conference where President Bidens News Conference, there were no questions from Russian Media and here, thats been framed to kind of suggest that President Putin is prepared to talk and is open to questions and President Biden isnt. Optically, you could argue the Biden Administration missed an opportunity there to seem open and try to take the tupt to talk to the russian people in a different kind of way. That may be something they want to reevaluate or think about. Frankly, it seems pretty unlikely that the guy in charge in the kremlin behind me there is going to change. Why not try to talk to his people more strategically and see if that might have some kind of an impact on President Putins thinking . Thats a very important point, keir. Thank you for raising that. Ambassador mcfaul, do you think that was a missed opportunity . Should President Biden have taken some questions from russian journalists, even if they are members of the statecontrolled press there, and have a chance to speak directly to the people of russia . He did take one question, just to be clear. It was from Radio Liberty and it was from a russian journalist. So it wasnt a complete it wasnt just american journalists speaking to him but most certainly, as they do their homework, they need to contain putins russia and also have to have a much better strategy for talking directly to the people of russia. Not everybody in russia agrees with Vladimir Putin. Ambassador michael mcfaul, keir simmons, monica alba, thank you to the four of you for starting us off on this very busy afternoon. 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They came in response to incendiary balloons from gaza that set off fires in bordering israeli towns hours earlier. The balloons themselves were a reaction to that forced to block off jerusalems old city. Israel said they are ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting. All this comes on day three of a new israeli government. Nbc news correspondent kelly