President Biden’s desire to forcibly face an increasingly adversarial Russia is being tempered by the immediate need to cooperate with Moscow in a variety of common interests.
Biden is seeking a five-year extension to the nuclear weapons treaty known as the New START, which is due to expire in the first week of February and is seen by arms control experts as the key to ensuring international security.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials are launching a series of analyzes on what the Biden government has called “reckless and adversarial actions” that have been going on since the Trump era.
These areas of concern include SolarWinds’ unprecedented invasion of US federal agencies and private companies last year and the arrest this month of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after his recovery from a poisoning allegedly carried out by Russian security services. Authorities are also reviewing Kremlin reports granting rewards to American military personnel in Afghanistan.
“I think we can operate in the mutual interest of our countries … and make it clear to Russia that we are very concerned about their behavior,” President Biden told reporters on Monday.
Biden reiterated that he is awaiting the intelligence community’s assessment of Moscow’s evil activity before initiating a response, but said he “would not hesitate to raise these issues with the Russians”.
Evelyn Farkas, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia during the Obama administration, welcomed Biden’s approach, characterizing it as an effort to deal with Russia clearly and directly, unlike the previous one. President Trump
Donald TrumpSchumer: The impeachment trial will be swift, it doesn’t need many witnesses Nurse to be chosen by Biden as interim general surgeon: Schumer report asks Biden to declare climate emergency MORE, who was criticized for his openings to the Russian president Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich PutinPutin labels dangerous, illegal pro-Navalny rallies The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden: Focus on vaccine, virus, travel President of Mexico positive test for COVID-19 MORE. She said Biden was able to balance cooperation with confrontation in his dealings with Putin.
“We can make progress with Russia if we negotiate directly and firmly, which the Trump administration did not try to do,” said Farkas.
Still, the pressure is growing for Biden to take swift action against Moscow, in particular for arresting Navalny, and completing an assessment of the initial poisoning and how Putin and Russia’s internal security services, the FSB, fit together.
“We urge your government to conduct this investigation, submit your findings to Congress and make a decision without delay,” bipartisan House legislators wrote in a letter to Biden on Friday.
“If his investigation confirms that the Putin regime was behind this blatant attack – as the overwhelming evidence presented by our allies and independent researchers suggests – then he must be held accountable,” continued lawmakers.
Over the weekend, the State Department demanded Navalny’s “immediate and unconditional release” and rebuked Russia’s crackdown on widespread protests that took place in favor of the opposition leader. The State Department also called for the release of more than 3,000 protesters who were arrested.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiOn The Money: Senate confirms Yellen as first woman secretary of the Treasury | Biden says he is open to stricter income limits for stimulus checks | The government will try to expedite Tubman’s inclusion in the bill Biden’s press secretary happily accepts the advice of his ‘Scandal’ colleague Overnight Health Care: Biden says anyone who wants a vaccine can get it in the spring Modern says vaccine effective in variants, but tests reinforcement injection | California raises request for stay at regional home MORE told reporters on Monday that the intelligence community’s assessment of a range of Russian activities would be prioritized, but it did not offer a timeline or information on retaliatory actions that are under consideration.
Congressional law enforcement officials provide the government with key tools to respond, including the Sergei Magnitsky Act, which allows sanctions on Russian officials involved in human rights abuses against individuals working to expose corruption.
There is also the Sanctioning of America’s Opponents Act, passed in the wake of Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections.
Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken
Antony BlinkenBiden’s ‘adherence’ to Middle East stability is crucial The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden: Focus on vaccine, virus, travel US carrier group enters the South China Sea amid tensions between China and Taiwan MORE, signaled during his confirmation hearing last week that the government’s decision to pursue action against Russia would not be taken lightly.
While Biden believes the United States should impose “sustainable costs and consequences” on Russia, Blinken said, every bad activity “will deserve a deep conversation” between the government and Congress.
Former employees said the Biden government could consider proportional actions in cyberspace to respond to the SolarWinds hack, although employees are likely to be on the lookout for potential escalation.
Farkas, the former Obama administration official, said Biden could also consider restricting the issuance of new sovereign debt to Russian state entities.
“We need to be less risk averse than before,” she said. “At the moment, the Putin regime is in a weak spot.”
The Biden administration will also have to control the arrest of three Americans in Moscow, including Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison last year on espionage charges. Whelan says he was framed, and American officials consider the charges to be politically motivated.
Whelan’s brother David Whelan said the family had no contact with the Biden administration, but welcomed Blinken’s appointment as secretary of state, as well as Biden’s decision not to replace the US ambassador to Russia and the special envoy for hostages of the Trump Administration.
These decisions “give us confidence that Paul’s case will be handled by a government with deep experience in Russia,” said David Whelan.
The two other Americans arrested are Trevor Reed, a former US Marine who was sentenced in July to nine years in prison for assaulting a police officer – allegations of disputes in the U.S. – and investor Michael Calvey, who is under limited house arrest in the Russia, awaiting trial on charges of embezzlement that the US has criticized.
The other Congressional pressure that Biden faces concerns Russia’s construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which critics warn will give Moscow an edge over Europe.
Blinken, in his comments to Congress, said that Biden is committed to preventing completion of the pipeline, but is prioritizing coordination with European allies over the imposition of unilateral sanctions.
This means that Biden would have to persuade Germany to abandon its support for the project at a time when he is also trying to fix the relationship between Washington and Berlin after it broke up under Trump.
“In an ideal world, we will engage very quickly with our partners and allies in Europe, and I think we will try to convince them to stop this,” Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, adding that sanctions remain table.
Biden spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday and “expressed his desire to deepen relations between our countries,” according to the White House, which also said that the two leaders discussed Russia, Ukraine and the NATO alliance.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
Jake SullivanBiden talks about NATO, climate change in the first presidential summons with Frenchman Macron Biden should wait for the weekend to choose the State Department for the White House: It will take ‘a little while’ before Biden’s first trip to outside. MORE made connections with his colleagues in the United Kingdom, France and Germany and addressed common concerns related to Russia, among other matters.
Psaki on Monday did not say whether Biden should speak to Putin, but indicated that more calls were planned with foreign leaders.
Still, the United States will seek cooperation from Russia to address issues such as climate change and arms control.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday that Russian and American officials had initiated talks on the New START and expressed optimism about working with the Biden government.
Angela Stent, a government professor at Georgetown University and an expert on Russia, said relations between the two countries are unlikely to heat up. Instead, she said, they are likely to make a cold peace to obtain strategic gains from both sides.
“I think Biden’s people said from the beginning that they don’t want a reset with Russia because that would be illusory and we should just deal with Russia on issues that are in our interest,” said Stent.
“On these issues, it is important to sit down with Russia, but there is no expectation that the relationship will get any hotter.”