President Joe Biden has had his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin since taking office – and he immediately raised several key issues between the US and Russia that his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, infamously refused to address. to speak.
During an briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki summarized the afternoon call between the two leaders. Based on the topics she conveyed, it sounds as if Biden brought Putin to the task in an awkward conversation.
Biden is pushing for Putin’s poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who many believe is an assassination attempt ordered by the Kremlin, as well as the government’s arrest of hundreds of protesters who staged a rally in support of Navalny last weekend.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United States and six other G7 countries issued a statement condemning the Kremlin for the poisoning, the protest march and the fact that they detained Navalny last week on seemingly false charges.
During the call, Biden also reaffirmed America’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, which has been under threat since Russia invaded the country in 2014. During his confirmation hearing as secretary of state last week, Antony Blinken told the Senate’s foreign relations that Biden’s government would continue to support Kiev with deadly aid.
Biden also raised three key issues related to Moscow’s war with the United States: Russia’s interference in the 2020 election; its alleged links to the hacking of dozens of U.S. government agencies and Fortune 500 companies through the infiltration of SolarWinds software; and reported that Russia had offered cash to Afghan militants to kill US troops in Afghanistan.
If it looks like Biden is trying to stand up to Putin, it’s because he was, his staff told reporters. “His intention was also to make clear that the United States will act strictly in defense of our national interests in response to malicious actions by Russia,” Psaki said before the White House released a summary of the call.
In general, a phone call between US and Russian leaders can be noticeable because of the tensions between the countries. But in this case, the conversation is striking at how different it is in content and tone from how Trump regularly spoke to Putin throughout his presidency – with reverence and praise.
“Ultimately, we have a president who will confront Putin on the real issues,” said Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. “It was the wish list for everything that had to be discussed over the past four years, but which was not.”
Biden’s call with Putin is a major break from the Trump years
Given chance after chance, Trump failed to confront Putin with Russia’s many aggressions against the United States, and he often tried to magnify himself with his counterpart.
Despite clear evidence that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 and 2020 elections, Trump called such accusations a “joke” intended to delegitimize his presidential victory and administration. And in several meetings with Putin, Trump appeared to accept the Russian president’s denial that the Kremlin had interfered in America’s democratic process.
In early 2018, Trump’s aides told him not to congratulate Putin on his re-election as Russian president during a call. But Trump did it anyway, while ignoring a “DO NOT CONGRATULATIONS” number and the fact that Russia does not hold free and fair elections. What’s more, Trump has ignored talking points condemning Russia’s poisoning of a former Kremlin spy living in the UK.
After the hack of SolarWinds, Trump refused to even mention it or make a statement. When he had to discuss the issue, he made sure he did not blame Russia and he apparently said that China was behind it all. Trump also refused to condemn the Kremlin over Navalny’s poisoning.
There are still examples, but you get the idea. And while the government has opposed the Kremlin where possible – such as defending electoral infrastructure against hacks and sanctioning key members of government – much of it is happening against Trump’s wishes, not because of them.
Furthermore, Trump approved the sale of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in 2017 to help defend the country against Russia, a move the Obama administration refused to take. Trump also withheld the notorious support for trying to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden’s family.
It is therefore safe to say that the Biden-Putin call is not just a new tone. This marks a new era in US-Russia relations, in which the President of the United States will actually stand up for his country and his values against the Russian strongman.
“This is how a president asserts American interests and values,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who led the first indictment against Trump and is chairing the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted after the call.