Russian Official Warns of “Uncomfortable” Signals Ahead of Biden-Putin Summit

Over the past several weeks, Russia targeted the largest U.S. fuel pipeline and now has shut down the U.S.-based meat plants of the world’s largest meatpacker. These attacks have come into play when President Biden and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, are expected to meet in Geneva for the U.S.- Russia summit on June 16th.

Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned the U.S. of what’s to come:

The Americans must assume that a number of signals from Moscow . . . will be uncomfortable for them, including in the upcoming days.

CIA Moscow Station Chief Daniel Hoffman explained the reason behind these attacks on the U.S., “All of this is Vladimir Putin’s resurgence strategy.”

So, we have clear warnings that these hacks will continue, and U.S. companies are suffering for it. Yet, there is no action from the Biden Administration to condemn Russia for these attacks.

ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell explains what the U.S. can do to show strength at these upcoming negotiations:

[T]hey understand power. They don’t have a consistent moral compass where hypocrisy or pointing out hypocrisy or hypocritical policies is something that is going to work. They can’t be embarrassed because it’s all about the power and money. I think what we have to do when we send in negotiators which we are now going to be in negotiations with Russia, we have to understand what moves them. What do they maximize? And we are going to be at a deficit if we try to make some sort of arguments of do the right thing and behave like an international player. That’s just where we have been flawed in the past. We have done it through multiple Administrations. I would say Donald Trump didn’t do that, he negotiated from strength, power, trade, money, and economic input.

When asked about what the U.S. needs from Russia, Ric added:

Ironically, what we need from the Russians is for them to act more moral and play by the rules and to follow the rules. That’s where I think the rub is that we want them to act like a responsible international country and therefore follow the rules whether it be international trade rules, or U.N. rules or the rules of engagement at war and just to be honest and fair. But I think we have to start from the premise that’s not what they maximize, so we will have to put guardrails. What I would argue is the exact old Reagan line which is “trust but verify.” So, we need to have transparency and guardrails so we understand how to check them because we can’t trust them.

ACLJ Senior Counsel CeCe Heil has experience in international negotiations on behalf of the ACLJ. She explained:

We already have an idea of what those plans are, and we are totally ignoring them. But we know with these regimes, . . . when we had an issue with Turkey, you don’t win those positions by showing weakness. You show power and that is what got Pastor Brunson out is when we didn’t back down and the United States showed power. That’s what is effective.

The U.S. doesn’t depend on Russia for anything, and yet we are getting pushed around. These Russian hacks on our transportation system essentially shut down East Coast travel for days. Then a few weeks later, meatpacking companies are spending money just to keep out Russian hackers. So, they hack our pipelines and meat plants, and we do nothing. This is a national security threat. As the upcoming summit is getting closer, President Biden is going into this meeting with Putin exemplifying weakness and setting up the U.S. in a position to get hacked again by Russia with no fear of retaliation.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of the Russian hacks against the U.S. as President Biden prepares for the upcoming summit.

Watch the full broadcast below.