Biden pledges to tackle Putin over human rights abuse
President Joe Biden pledged, Sunday, to tell Russian leader Vladimir Putin at their June summit that Washington will not let Moscow “abuse” human rights.
The face to face meeting with the Kremlin leader comes amid levels of tension not seen for years, with Washington now dialing back its ambition to little more than establishing a relationship in which both sides understand each other and can work together in specific areas.
Since taking office, Biden has imposed new sanctions against Moscow over what US authorities say was the Russian role in the massive SolarWinds cyber attack and repeated meddling in the 2020 presidential election.
In addition, Washington has hardly criticized Moscow for the near-death poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of one of the last open opponents to Putin, Alexei Navalny. Tensions are also high over Ukraine, where Russia already controls swaths of territory and recently massed troops on the border in a new show of force.
