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President Biden has said that he told Vladimir Putin that the days of the United States “turning around” for Russia are over.
It comes as he seeks to get away from Donald Trump’s foreign policy, which many consider too close to Russia.
In a speech at the State Department, Biden said, “America is back. Diplomacy is back.”
The president said that during his call with Putin last month he brought up issues such as election interference, alleged Russian bounties offered to Taliban fighters to kill US troops and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.
“I made it clear to President Putin in a very different way than my predecessor, that the days when the United States turned to aggressive actions by Russia, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning citizens, are over.” Biden said. .
Biden, pictured here with the Russian president in 2011, said he told his counterpart that things were changing.
He said his government “would not hesitate to raise the cost of Russia and defend our vital interests” and will be “more effective in dealing with Russia when we work in coalition and coordination with other like-minded partners.”
Biden’s talk touched on a variety of other topics.
He said the annual refugee limit for the United States would increase to 125,000, after Donald Trump lowered it to just 15,000.
On China, he said “it will directly take on the challenges posed (to) our prosperity, security and democratic values by our most serious competitor.”
Joe Biden was giving his first State Department speech as president
Biden said his administration will confront “economic abuses” from China and “reject China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance.”
But the 46th president also said he was ready to work with Beijing when it was in the interest of the United States.
It also seems unlikely that Biden will follow through with Trump’s plan to withdraw about 9,500 of the 34,500 US troops in Germany.
While his predecessor was antagonistic toward NATO and criticized countries for not contributing enough, Biden seeks to rebuild alliances.
President Biden too announced the end of support for Saudi Arabian forces in the devastating civil war in Yemen.
Biden said during his election campaign that he wanted to use diplomacy to end the conflict between the Saudi-backed government and the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement.
“The war has created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.” This war has to end, “he told diplomats at the State Department on Thursday.
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Yemen: analysis of a war crime
The United Nations has described Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 80% of people in need of help, and demanded more answers in the light of a Sky News Report last month.
It calculates the estimated total number of deaths at 233,000, including 131,000 from indirect causes, such as lack of food and health services.
The United States has been helping the Saudis since 2015, which the White House says was to try to prevent civilian casualties.
Donald trump designated the Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist organization in one of its final acts, something the UN said could lead the country further into disaster.
He said Yemen was facing “a large-scale famine on a scale that we have not seen in nearly 40 years.”
While the UK is not part of the Saudi-led coalition, opposition MPs accused the government of “turning a blind eye” to keep selling arms to Riyadh.
Biden also used his first visit to the State Department as president to again urge the Myanmar military to relinquish power and release officials who have been detained, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
And before the speech, national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced that there would be a presidential memorandum to protect LGBT + people around the world.
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