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Biden dismisses Putin’s comparison between Capitol rioters and political opponents

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a press conference on Wednesday following a meeting with President Biden in Geneva. A reporter pressed Putin to answer a question about dead and jailed political opponents, but Putin was evasive and instead focused on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. When asked about Putin’s comparison at a later press conference, Biden called it "ridiculous."

Video transcript

- You didn't answer my question, sir. If all of your political opponents are dead, in prison, poisoned, doesn't that send a message that you do not want a fair political fight?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: [RUSSIAN]

INTERPRETER: All right, about my opponents being jailed or imprisoned, people went into US Congress with political demands. 400 people are now facing criminal charges. They are facing prison terms of up to 20, maybe 25 years. They are called homegrown terrorists. They are being accused of many other things. 70 people were arrested right there on the spot. 30 of them are still arrested. On what grounds? Not quite clear. I mean, none of the official authorities from the States are informing us about it, so we don't know that. One of the participants, a woman, was shot dead on the spot. She was not threatening with-- you know, with arms or anything.

Why am I bringing this up? Many people are facing the same things as we do, and I am stressing this. We are sympathizing with the United States, but we do not want the same thing repeating here.

- Mr. President, when President Putin was questioned today about human rights, he said the reason why he's cracking down on opposition leaders is because he doesn't want something like January 6 to happen in Russia. And he also said he doesn't want to see groups formed like Black Lives Matter. What's your response to that, please?

JOE BIDEN: My response is kind of what I communicated, that I think that's a ridiculous comparison. It's one thing for literally criminals to break through cordon, go into the Capitol, kill a police officer, and be held accountable than it is for people objecting and marching on the Capitol and saying you are not allowing me to speak freely, you are not allowing me to do A, B, C or D. And so they are very different criteria.