President Joe Biden confronted Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about his government’s arrest of political rival Alexei Navalny and a range of other hot-button issues, including the Kremlin’s alleged cyberattack on U.S. federal agencies and plot to assassinate American soldiers overseas, according to the White House.
Seeking to make a sharp break with former President Donald Trump’s cordial relationship with the Russian leader, Biden pressed Putin on the range of issues during their first call since his inauguration last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
“He called President Putin this afternoon ... to reaffirm our strong support for Ukraine sovereignty in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression and also to raise matters of concern, including the SolarWinds hack, reports of Russia placing bounties on United States soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 election, the poisoning of Alexei Navalany and treatment of peaceful protesters by Russia security forces,” Psaki said at her daily White House briefing.
On a less confrontational note, Psaki said Biden also spoke with Putin about the need to extend New START, the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the U.S. and Russia, which is set to expire next month.
The Kremlin’s readout of the call was drastically different and focused mostly on the portion of the conversation about the New START treaty.
“In the coming days, the parties will complete all the necessary procedures to ensure the further functioning of this important international legal mechanism for the mutual limitation of nuclear missile arsenals,” the unsigned Kremlin readout said.
The readout added, “On the whole, the conversation between the leaders of Russia and the United States was of a businesslike and frank nature. It was agreed to maintain contacts.”
