Russia and US hold secret talks on hackers and disarmament – NYT

Russia and the United States have held a series of “secret meetings” on various issues after Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden first met at the Geneva summit in June as presidents of the two countries. About it informs The New York Times citing sources.

According to the newspaper, high-ranking officials of the Biden administration came to Moscow three times. Also, the meetings took place on neutral territory in Finland and Switzerland.

As part of these meetings, the United States handed over to Russia the names of hackers suspected of cybercrimes in Washington. According to one of the sources, the United States wanted to check whether this would lead to arrests and whether Vladimir Putin was serious when he said that he would contribute to the fight against cybercrime.

The publication also notes that between the two countries is now “the deepest in recent years” conversation about arms control. For example, Ann Nyberger, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security of the United States, held several secret virtual meetings with her counterpart in the Russian leadership.

At the same time, sources of the publication in both countries say that the negotiations have not yet led to significant results. At the same time, they stressed that contacts between representatives of the two states help keep the “Russian-American tension” from getting out of control.