Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin (illustration).

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Photos Sipa / Montage 20 Minutes

A new chapter opens in the tumultuous relations between the United States and Russia.

After telephoning his allies (Canada, Mexico, France and Germany), the new US President Joe Biden met on Tuesday with his counterpart Vladimir Poutin for the first time since entering the White House in order to raise several issues in the heart tensions between the two rival countries.

"He called President Putin this afternoon with the intention of discussing our desire to extend for five years New Start", the bilateral disarmament treaty which expires in early February, "but also to reaffirm our firm support for sovereignty Ukraine in the face of persistent Russian aggression, ”White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Joe Biden also expressed his concern about the "poisoning" of Alexey Navalny, the Russian opponent arrested by Moscow on January 17 on his return to Russia after a five-month convalescence in Germany, as well as " treatment of peaceful demonstrators by Russian security forces ”.

"Frank" discussions, according to the Kremlin

The G7 countries, including the United States, condemned Tuesday in a joint statement the "political" detention of this opponent poisoned at the end of August with a nerve agent, and demanded his "immediate and unconditional release", as well as that of his supporters arrested on Saturday during protests across Russia.

Among the subjects raised by the American president, according to his spokesman, also figure the "interference in the election of 2020" in the United States, the recent giant cyberattack against American ministries attributed by Washington to Moscow, and the information, minimized by his predecessor Donald Trump, according to which Russia would have paid "bounties" to the Taliban to kill American soldiers.

"He also intended to make it clear that the United States will act firmly to defend our national interests in the face of Russia's nefarious acts," Jen Psaki told reporters.

Vladimir Putin, for his part, said he supported "a normalization of relations between Russia and the United States", which according to him "would meet the interests of the two countries but also those of the entire international community, given their particular responsibility in the maintaining security and stability in the world, ”the Russian presidency reported, qualifying the discussions between the two leaders as“ frank ”.

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