Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden claims he once told Russian President Vladimir Putin he has no “soul.”

During a fundraiser in New York on Thursday, Biden spoke of meeting with Putin while he was vice president during the Obama administration.

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Recalling what he told Putin, Biden said, “I don’t think you have a soul and his response was, ‘Well, we understand each other.”

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The comments evoke memories of former President George W. Bush’s comments in 2001 after meeting Putin, when he said, “I looked the man in the eye” and “I was able to get a sense of his soul.” (Bush has since said “Putin changed.”)

During the fundraiser, Biden vowed to get tough with Putin if elected president.

“You screw around with us, worse is coming your way,” Biden said. “They gotta understand there’s a price to pay.”

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Speaking of Russia’s attempts to interfere in U.S. elections, Biden called for new election security measures.

“We have to get every state in the union to move toward having paper ballots. We need the backup,” he said.