The first telephone conversation between the new President of the United States, Joe Biden, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Poutin, on Tuesday, January 26, illustrated a paradox. The distrust expressed by the democrat towards his counterpart, which contrasts with the will “To come to an understanding with Russia” of his predecessor, Donald Trump, does not prevent ad hoc convergences.
The Biden administration can thus welcome a first result with an agreement allowing an extension for five years of the latest nuclear arsenal reduction treaty, New Start, which expires in February. The Iranian nuclear issue, which was on the menu of this exchange, could also later be conducive to a similar collaboration.
Three areas of concern
The change in tone, however, is clear. Vladimir Poutine had waited for the official confirmation of the results of the American presidential election, with the vote of the electoral college, to congratulate Joe Biden, on December 15, 2020, while he had been much more eager in 2016. Donald Trump had placed symbolically his Russian counterpart on an equal footing with the allies of the United States, except the United Kingdom, joining him for the first time after taking office on the same day as the German, French, Japanese and Australian officials. This time around, the Russian President has passed after French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and even NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The call gave rise to press releases in which the two leaders put forward their priorities. The Russian president pleaded for “Normalization of relations” between the two countries, deemed to comply with their “Interest”, “But also those of the entire international community, given [leur] special responsibility in maintaining security and stability in the world ”.
Joe Biden had indicated the day before that he considers possible “Both to act in the mutual interest of our countries with the New Start agreement and to clearly say to Russia that we are very concerned about its behavior”.
He then cited three areas of concern to Washington which were all mentioned Tuesday according to the brief White House report. It is first of all the fate of the Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, the day after massive demonstrations followed by waves of arrests throughout the country to protest against his imprisonment, after a poisoning attempt in which Moscow is accused .
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