NEW YORK, June 13. /TASS/. American President Joe Biden at the summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin intends to try to find the areas of possible interaction between the two countries, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with the Fox News TV channel parts of which were published on Sunday.
He noted that the summit won’t become a moment of truth. "One of the things that President Biden will begin to test is whether Russia is interested in a more stable predictable relationship, which would be to everyone’s benefit. But if not, if it continues to take reckless or aggressive actions at our allies or partners, President Biden will make clear we respond forcibly," he said. He pointed out that a response to these questions is not possible after a single meeting.
As the Kremlin and the White House reported earlier, the meeting of Putin and Biden will take place on June 16 in Geneva. According to the press service of the Russian head of state, the two leaders plan to discuss the conditions and prospects for further fostering Russian-US relations, strategic stability matters as well as pressing issues on the international agenda, which include cooperation in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and regulating regional conflicts. This will be the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Biden since the US president took office.
The fight against hackers attacking companies
Biden intends to discuss the fight against hackers attacking companies for ransom at the summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Blinken said.
"When it comes to ransomware, no responsible country should be in the business of harboring criminal organizations engaged in those practices and that is something that the president very much intends to take up with president Putin," he said.
In early May, attackers from the DarkSide group hacked into the systems of American pipeline company Colonial Pipeline. According to US intelligence services, DarkSide may be based on the territory of Russia or Eastern Europe but is not associated with any government. The attack on computer networks of American meat processing company JBS was carried out on May 31. According to the White House press service, the company believes that a criminal organization, allegedly located in Russia, is behind the attack.
On June 4, Putin branded the accusations against Moscow of being behind cyberattacks on US meat processing plants as ridiculous and preposterous. The Russian president assumed that it could have been orchestrated to stir up controversy ahead of his meeting with Biden. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured that Russia would quickly consider any requests coming from the US regarding the hacker attack on meat processing company JBS, if there are any. He also emphasized that Moscow had no information regarding the perpetrators behind the JBS attacks.