Administration Officials Pleased With Follow-on Progress From Biden's Summit With Putin
Humanitarian assistance in Syria, matter of ransomware attacks advanced
Cross-border humanitarian relief will continue to flow into Syria, and while Russia is expected to step up actions against the growing number of “ransomware” cyberattacks which emanate from its soil.
This is according to senior administration officials who held a press briefing for reporters Friday on the condition that those senior officials not be named. (Holding such background press briefings has been a common practice for White Houses of presidents of both political parties.)
These senior administration officials held up the continued cross-border humanitarian assistance to Syria and greater cooperation on ransomware attacks — or attacks against computers and networks by malicious software which only be removed once the victim pays ransom to the perpetuators — as concrete benefits coming from the summit President Biden held last month with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Geneva Switzerland, as well as a follow-up phone call on Friday.
Many of the ransomware cyberattacks which strike targets in the United States are known to originate in Russia.
For months, administration officials have been concerned about the likelihood, if not a near certainty, of a Russian veto of the U.N. Security Council resolution that allows for humanitarian assistance to be provided across the Syrian border from Turkey, according to one unnamed senior administration official.
“And it is our strong sense that only leader-level engagement along the lines that took place at the summit in Geneva would have gotten this extension done and this access secured at a time of severe humanitarian distress and need in Syria,” this official said. “So, we think that’s quite a consequential action and a genuine impact of the President’s personal engagement and of the summit.”
However, a reporter on the call pointed out that non-governmental organizations are not really pleased with the outcome on humanitarian assistance.
“And they say that this isn’t good enough, that six-month extension; even if there’s no requirement for another vote — in six months, it’s just not long enough to plan for humanitarian groups,” the reporter said. “Human Rights Watch said that Russia successfully blackmailed the international community. Amnesty said Russia continues to play games with the lives and welfare of millions of people. So how do you paint this as a success if these groups are saying it’s not?”
A senior administration official responded, “We see the six-month extension with a virtually automatic additional six months. In other words, adding up to a full-year extension of humanitarian access is being far better than what was expected in recent months and consider this to be a significant progress on the humanitarian issues. And we’re going to have to stay on top of them, obviously.”
The senior administration officials were more circumspect when it came to discussing specifics regarding Russian cooperation on ransomware attacks.
Biden, himself, Friday had answered “yes,” when asked by a reporter whether it made sense to begin to attack the servers that are used to carry out these ransom attacks in Russia.
In the background briefing, one senior administration official said, “On Russia’s follow-up actions: Look, you know, time will tell. The president was quite clear that part of why he wanted to gauge what President Putin was willing to do with regard to these actions that have taken place from Russian territory was so the United States could gauge what we’re going to be willing to do.
“And I think the president was asked today if he expected us, the United States, to take action, to follow up. He said, ‘Yes.’ We’re not going to telegraph what those actions will be precisely,” one senior administration official said. “Some of them will be manifest and visible, some of them may not be. But we expect those to take place, you know, in the days and weeks ahead.”
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