WASHINGTON, July 10. /TASS/. It will take the United States time to assess the effectiveness of cooperation on cybersecurity issues with Russia, a senior US administration official told a press call on US President Joe Biden’s telephone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"The president really meant what he said just after concluding the summit meeting in Geneva, when he said that our assessment of this process and our evaluation of Russia’s actions would take time and play out over time. The president said six months or more," the official pointed out.

"This is more than just a conversation that’s taking place between the two leaders, President Biden and President Putin. This is really about our own resilience, as a nation, in the face of these attacks, and strengthening that. That’s what the cybersecurity executive order was largely about," the official noted, adding: "It’s about addressing the challenges posed by cryptocurrency, which provides fuel for these sorts of transactions."

According to the US administration official, "this is a broad campaign and won’t have an immediate on-off effect like a light switch, but we’re going to have to stay on top of this over a period of time and remain focused on it."

The presidents of Russia and the United States held a telephone conversation on Friday. According to the Kremlin press service, Putin and Biden "continued the dialogue on cybersecurity issues and the fight against cybercrime that began at the Russia-US summit in Geneva." "Given the scale and seriousness of challenges in this field, cooperation between Russia and the United States should be permanent, professional, and non-politicized. It should be carried out via specialized channels of data exchange between the relevant government agencies within bilateral legal mechanisms and with due respect to international law," the Kremlin added.