In a White House daily press briefing Tuesday morning, press secretary Jen Psaki explained that President Biden had called Putin to raise a number of issues including an extension of the New Start strategic nuclear treaty.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Psaki said Biden also called ‘to raise matters of concern’ and mentioned the solar winds hack on networks across the U.S. government, ‘reports of Russia placing bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 election, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and treatment of peaceful protesters by Russian security forces.’
Whew.
Unlike his predecessor, Biden is not trying to make friends with the dictator but calling him out for dangerous actions. At one point, in a presidential debate, Biden had accused Trump of being ‘Putin’s Puppy.’
Now Biden has ordered a review of all issues related to Russia and signaled new sanctions could be imposed.