President Joe Biden said he would only meet with Vladimir Putin to discuss the release WNBA star Brittney Grinerbut would not discuss the war in Ukraine with the Russian leader without Kiev’s participation.

In an exclusive CNN interview Biden called Putin a “rational actor” who grossly misjudged his ability to invade Ukraine and oppress its people.

“I think he’s a rational actor who miscalculated significantly,” Biden said said Jake Tapper as Russia’s bombing of civilians in Ukraine has marked another tragic turning point in the war, now in its eighth month.

When asked if he would meet Putin in the next month group of 20 At the Indonesia summit, Biden said he sees no good reason to sit together unless he can talk to Putin about it Brittney Griner, now in the eighth month in a Moscow prison. grinner got arrested at a Moscow airport on February 17 for possessing less than a gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. Seven days later, Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Look, I have no intention of meeting with him, but look, if he came up to me at the G20 and said, ‘I want to talk about releasing Griner,’ I would meet with him, but this would depend on it,” Biden said. “It would depend on what he wanted to talk about.”

Biden told Tapper that he didn’t believe there was a need to speak to Putin outside of specific issues and that Putin was being brutal.

“He acted brutally, I believe he committed war crimes and therefore I see… no reason to meet with him now.”

Biden was asked about it again the opportunity to speak to reporters outside the White House about Griner with Putin, according to Reuters on Wednesday. He said there had been no movement from Putin on the possibility of a prisoner swap with Griner and Ex Marine Paul Whelan also imprisoned in Russia.

The White House for a few months has held talks with Russian officials about the release of Griner and Whelan. Biden said in August he was…