President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They discussed the two countries’ willingness to extend the new START for five years, agreeing that their teams would work urgently to complete the extension by February 5. This was reported by White House spokesman Jen Psaki.
Note that President Joe Biden has reaffirmed the strong support of the United States for the sovereignty of Ukraine. He also raised other areas of concern, including the hack of SolarWinds, reports that Russia gave bounties to US soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 US election and the poisoning of Aleksey Navalny. .
President Biden has made it clear that the United States will act firmly to defend its national interests in response to Russian actions that harm us or our allies. The two presidents agreed to maintain transparent and consistent communication going forward.