Biden has first call as president with Putin

At the White House briefing on Tuesday, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that President Biden planned to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putn about issues that included the SolarWinds hack, reports of Russian bounties on American soldiers and interference in the 2016 election.

Video Transcript

- President Biden has spoken to President Putin. Can you give us an update on the nature of their call? What came up?

PRESS SECETARY JEN PSAKI: I can confirm for you the call was scheduled. The call has happened, I believe, since I have come out here, so we will, of course, be putting a readout of the call out. But since you gave me the opportunity, I will just convey to you that he called President Putin this afternoon with the intention of discussing our willingness to extend New START for five years, and also to reaffirm our strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty in the face of Russian's ongoing aggression.

And also to raise matters of concern, including the SolarWings hack, reports of Russia placing bounties on United States soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 election, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and treatment of peaceful protesters by Russian security forces. His intention was also to make clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of our national interests in response to malign actions by Russia. But we'll have a readout for you, I assume, sometime early this afternoon. Thanks, everyone.