The first phone call between Biden and Putin

Joe Biden spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for the first time since entering the White House. An opportunity for the two leaders to raise the many issues at the heart of the tensions between the rival countries.

“President Putin called this afternoon with the intention of discussing our desire to extend the new starting plan for five years, the” Bilateral Disarmament Treaty that ends in early February “, but also to reaffirm our firm support for Ukraine’s sovereignty in the face of” aggression. ” Continuous from Russia. “

Joe Biden also expressed concern about the “poisoning” of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who was arrested by Moscow on January 17th upon his return to Russia after a five-month recovery in Germany, as well as “the treatment of peaceful protesters by Russian security forces.” .

Among the topics raised by the US President, according to his spokesman, also “interference in the 2020 elections” in the United States, the recent giant cyber attack against US ministries attributed to Washington from Moscow, and news that his predecessor, Donald, played down. Trump said Russia would have paid the Taliban “bounties” for killing American soldiers.

For his part, Vladimir Putin said that he supports “the normalization of relations between Russia and the United States,” which he said would “meet the interests of the two countries, as well as the interests of the entire international community, given their special responsibilities in the Russian presidency,” the Russian presidency said.