Meet 180 Minutes, President Biden And President Putin Discuss Cyber Security To Nuclear

Joe Biden dan Vladimir Putin. (Wikimedia Commons/Official White House/David Lienemann)

JAKARTA - The President of the United States (US) Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, agreed to start talks on cybersecurity and arms control, in their first meeting in Geneva, Switzerland Wednesday, June 16.

During the meeting, President Biden highlighted several things, such as the attack on the US fuel pipeline in May, which caused disturbances along the US East Coast.

President Biden also outlined vital US interests, including cybersecurity, and explained to Putin that the United States would respond if Russia violated those concerns.

The two men used careful pleasantries to describe their conversation in a Swiss lakeside villa, with President Putin calling it constructive and non-hostile. Meanwhile, President Biden said there was no substitute for face-to-face discussions.

They also agreed to send their ambassador back to their capital. Russia withdrew its envoy, after Biden said in March that Putin was a 'murderer', with the US recalling its ambassador soon after. President Putin said he was satisfied with President Biden's explanation of the statement.

But neither has hidden their differences on issues such as human rights, where Biden said the consequences for Russia would be 'devastating', if imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny dies, or cyberspace, where Washington is demanding Moscow crackdown on the ransomware attack. comes from Russia.

"I looked at him and said how would you feel if ransomware took the pipeline from your oil fields? He said it was important," President Biden told reporters at a single press conference, illustrating the tension between the two countries.

"What happens if that ransomware company sits down in Florida or Maine, and takes action as I said, on their only economic lifeline, oil? That would be devastating," he said, adding that he could see the question. impact on Russian officials.

Speaking to reporters in the presence of President Biden, President Putin dismissed US concerns about Navalny, Russia's increasing military presence near Ukraine's eastern border, and US accusations that Russia was responsible for cyberattacks on the United States.

He also said Washington was not in a position to lecture Moscow on rights, answering questions about its crackdown on political rivals by saying he was trying to avoid the distraction of popular movements like Black Lives Matter.

"What we see is chaos, disturbance, lawlessness etc. We sympathize with the United States, but we don't want that to happen in our region and we will do our best not to let that happen. It happens," he said. President Putin.

President Putin also seemed to question the legitimacy of arresting the rioters who attacked Capitol Hill, Washington DC on January 6, seeking to stop Biden's certification as president after he defeated his predecessor Donald Trump in the general election by more than seven million votes.

Neither side provided details on how their planned cybersecurity talks would unfold, though Biden said he told Putin critical infrastructure should be "off-limits" to cyberattacks, saying these included 16 sectors he did not identify.

"We need some ground rules of the road that we can all abide by," President Biden told President Putin.

Meanwhile, President Putin said he believed some compromise could be found, although he gave no indication of a prisoner swap deal.

President Putin called President Biden a constructive and experienced partner, and said they spoke "a common language." But he added that there was no friendship, but a pragmatic dialogue about the interests of the two countries.

However, the two said they shared responsibility for nuclear stability and would hold talks about possible changes to the recently extended New START arms restriction treaty as well as other arms control issues.

A senior US official told reporters Biden, Putin, the secretary of state and their translator met for the first 93 minutes. After the break, the two sides met for 87 minutes in a larger group that included ambassadors of both countries.