For months, the Russian media has mocked US President Joe Biden as twisted, confused and someone whose time has passed.
However, that changed on Thursday, when some commented that there was finally someone in the White House who understood Russia's needs and interests.
The "New York Times" writes that Biden's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin triggered celebrations on Russian political shows as well as quieter expressions of cautious optimism in the foreign policy establishment in Moscow.
There seems to be broad agreement in one part: Biden is more predictable and professional than Donald Trump and more willing to take Russian interests seriously than his more recent predecessors like Barack Obama, writes the New York Times.
"The earlier doctrine, presented by Obama, according to which Russia was only a regional power, has been rejected," said Konstantin Remchukov, editor of the influential "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" newspaper.
According to Remchukov, it was revealed that Russia is a power that cannot be lived without and with which the US "must talk" and that Putin is "no longer demonized" as an exile.
Before the summit, Biden said that Putin is a "worthy opponent", and in Geneva he said that Russia and the USA are "two great powers".
"He is the first American president since the Cold War who has adequate ideas about what Russia is and what it wants, and what the United States can and cannot do about it," said Kadri Lik, an expert on Russia at the European Council for Foreign Relations in Berlin. "Biden positions himself very skillfully".
And Putin praised Biden yesterday, saying the US president has been wrongly portrayed in the Russian and American media as unfocused and unclear.
Addressing university graduates via video link, Putin, 68, had only kind words for Biden, 78, in contrast to Russian state media that sometimes portray the American president as struggling both physically and mentally to do his job.
"I want to say that the image of President Biden offered by our media, even the American media, has nothing to do with reality," Putin told the graduates, Reuters reported.
“He had a long journey, flew across the ocean and had to deal with jet lag and the time difference. Flying is always difficult for me. But he was cheerful, we talked for two or more hours," said Putin.
"Biden is a professional and you have to be very careful when working with him so you don't miss something. They don't miss a thing, rest assured”.
Biden and Putin agreed on Wednesday to launch negotiations on arms control and cyber security. The meeting, which both described as pragmatic, rather than friendly, was marked by small developments and big differences.
Their willingness to look for areas of possible cooperation, however, offers some hope for improved relations between the two countries.
Earlier yesterday, the Kremlin said it was satisfied with the "positive" summit and singled it out as a significant joint statement emphasizing the need to avoid nuclear war.
The two leaders agreed to return the ambassadors to Moscow and Washington who were withdrawn after Biden, at the beginning of his term, repeated his description of Putin as a "murderer".
Relations between Russia and the US have sunk so low that it was impossible to imagine an easing of tensions any time soon.
And Putin, who denies responsibility for the cyber attacks and rejects criticism of the Kremlin's crackdown on dissidents at home, has made it clear he will not change any policies.
However, there is hope that the downward spiral in relations, which many feared could lead to military conflict, can at least be halted if Moscow and Washington resume negotiations.
Russian analysts and officials, who have long been harshly criticized by the US for, as they say, efforts to weaken Russia, assessed that Biden admits that he has to deal with Russian interests.
"The leaders' meeting fully justified the most optimistic expectations and brought more results in relations between the powers than any other in recent decades," wrote prominent commentator Timofey Bordachev on the pro-Kremlin Vzglyad portal.
The "New York Times" assesses that the praise of pro-Kremlin commentators on Biden's account is significant because the Russian elite has long seen the Democrats as part of the "Russophobic" American establishment for which democracy and human rights are just code words to justify attacks on Putin. In Biden, however, some Russians see an experienced leader clearly focused on his priorities, such as domestic problems and competition with China, and for whom confrontation with Russia is not an end in itself.
"It should be recognized that the presidency of Joe Biden has brought stabilization," Fyodor Lukyanov, a foreign policy analyst who advises the Kremlin, wrote in the Kommersant newspaper. "And because of his personality and because he clearly knows what he wants".
A Kremlin spokesman said yesterday that the summit also set the stage for what he described as really difficult technical negotiations on a potential prisoner exchange between Russia and the US. Dmitry Peskov, who attended the summit, said that it generally went as Russia expected and that the meeting, from the Kremlin's perspective, went without a hitch.
"It went pretty well, with a plus sign," Peskov told Echo of Moscow radio.
"It was productive in the sense that the two leaders had a chance to directly explain their positions, more or less understand where they can cooperate and where they can currently cooperate due to categorical differences in positions," Peskov added.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow expects arms control talks with the US to begin in a few weeks.
The easing of tensions also benefits Putin's opponents
Alyona Getmanchuk, director of the Center for New Europe research institute in Kyiv, says she is worried that Putin's declared willingness to engage in new negotiations will be just a ploy to gain an advantage in the constant confrontation with the West.
"Even if there are some new ideas or new proposals from Putin's side, which might sound constructive, it will be an attempt to set new traps for the USA or for the Western powers," she believes.
However, analyst Kadri Lik says that easing tensions between Russia and the US could be helpful to Putin's opponents, both the opposition in Russia and countries like Ukraine that are at odds with the Kremlin.
The reason, she believes, is that Putin is likely to act more restrained if he is involved in high-level negotiations with the US.
“I think it's good for everyone if Russia has something to lose in its relationship with the US. For a while, we were in a situation with Trump where she had nothing to lose," Lik said.
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