Icon: enlarge
Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny on the flight to Moscow (January 17)
Photo:
Mstyslav Chernov / dpa
US President Joe Biden raised a number of conflict issues in his first telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he took office.
Biden's spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in the White House on Tuesday that the president had spoken out on the “poisoning” of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and the “Russian security forces' dealings with peaceful demonstrators”.
Biden also expressed his concerns about dealing with the imprisoned government critic.
The president has also reaffirmed US support for Ukraine's sovereignty in the face of "Russia's ongoing aggression," said Psaki.
Other topics were reports of Russian bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan, a large-scale hacker attack on the US last year and interference in the US elections in November.
Russia and the USA had previously agreed to extend the “New Start” contract to five years.
According to the Kremlin, Putin campaigned for a "normalization of relations between Russia and the USA" in the phone call.
This would be in the interests of both countries and the international community.
During the election campaign, Biden had repeatedly accused his predecessor, Donald Trump, of adopting an overly compliant line in dealing with Russia.
As early as Monday, the new US president expressed himself "very concerned" after the arrest of thousands of demonstrators critical of the Kremlin in Russia, but at the same time affirmed his willingness to work with Moscow on arms control.
Tens of thousands of people in more than a hundred Russian cities took part in the anti-government protests last Saturday.
The people demanded the release of Navalny
Navalny was sentenced to 30 days' imprisonment in Russia on Monday last week for allegedly violating registration requirements in previous criminal proceedings.
The opposition politician had previously decided to return to his homeland, where he was the victim of an attack with the neurotoxin Novichok in August.
Icon: The mirror
ngo / afp / Reuters
