Biden Shows Up Trump With Declaration Against Vladimir Putin

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According to the White House, President Joe Biden pledged during a Friday conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States would conduct “any necessary action” to address repeated ransomware attacks originating in Russia. In a recent incident, up to 1,500 companies across the United States, Europe, and Asia were targeted in a ransomware onslaught for which a largely Russia-based group called REvil has taken responsibility. The Washington Post notes that, according to relevant experts, the calamity constituted “the single largest such cyberattack to date.”

As the Post also put it, Biden “has warned Putin that the United States would hold Moscow responsible for cyberattacks originating from Russia even if they cannot be directly linked to the Kremlin.” Russian operatives, of course, conducted a wide-ranging hacking and disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential election cycle, and in the time since, the threat posed by Russian cyber-aggressors has not abated. White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted to reporters on Friday “that ransomware attacks have been increasing over the past 18 months, precipitating the direct conversation with Putin,” as the Post explains.

The White House statement regarding Biden’s conversation with Putin reads, in part, as follows:

‘President Biden… spoke with President Putin about the ongoing ransomware attacks by criminals based in Russia that have impacted the United States and other countries around the world. President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge.’

What exactly “any necessary action” by Biden’s administration might include is not yet clear. All of this contrasts strikingly with the approach that Donald Trump took towards Putin and Russian aggression while in office. Repeatedly, Trump downplayed threats that Russian agents posed to the point that he advocated for having Putin rejoin the (now) G7 group of world leaders, from which he was originally removed because of Russia’s deadly military invasion of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine. Trump also largely disregarded Russian meddling in U.S. elections, and Putin wasn’t the only dictatorial foreign leader with whom Trump at least tacitly aligned himself. He also refused to take major action against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for ordering the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.