Here’s some of what Biden is expected to raise in his meeting with Putin
Biden is expected to raise the issue of recent ransomware attacks in the U.S. that have been linked to Russian hackers, as well as discuss the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is known as the Kremlin’s fiercest critic.
A senior White House official emphasized Tuesday that ransomware will be a “significant topic of conversation tomorrow,” as well as other cyberactivity, and Biden has already said that if Navalny dies in custody, it would be a "tragedy” and "another indication that Russia has little or no intentions of abiding by basic, fundamental human rights.”
Though Putin refused to even call Navalny by name in a recent NBC News interview and has said his imprisonment shouldn’t be a concern for leaders outside of Russia, White House officials said for Biden, the issue of human rights is still important to him.
"Certainly human rights are not off the table, and individual high-profile cases are not off the table. But otherwise, I’m not going to preview what he’s going to say,” the official told reporters.
Arms control, the extension of the New START Treaty and America’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will be on the agenda for the meeting, officials said Tuesday.
