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| US President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin (Photo by= Getty Images) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] US President Joe Biden has warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin about election meddling in their first call as counterparts, the White House says. BBC said, the conversation also included a discussion about the ongoing opposition protests in Russia.
A Kremlin statement didn’t refer to any points of friction, saying the call was "businesslike and frank". Both sides reportedly agreed to extend the countries' last remaining nuclear deal during the call. "President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies," the White House said in a statement, referencing the main talking points of Tuesday afternoon's call but listing no further details. Former US President Donald Trump sometimes undercut his own administration's tough posture on Russia and was accused by some of being too deferential to Mr. Putin.
The US said that the two presidents also discussed the massive SolarWinds cyber-attack, which has been blamed on Moscow; reports that the Kremlin placed bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan; and the poisoning of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny. The leaders also discussed the New Start treaty, an Obama-era accord that limits the amounts of warheads, missiles, and launchers in the two countries' nuclear arsenals.
