Russia ready for conditional handover of cyber criminals to US, says Putin
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A television cameraman in a room in the Villa La Grange, where US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to have a meeting on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland. It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Mr Biden took office in January.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
MOSCOW • Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said his country would be ready to hand over cyber criminals to the United States if Washington did the same for Moscow and the two powers reached an agreement to that effect.
Mr Putin made the comments in an interview aired in excerpts on state television yesterday ahead of a June 16 summit with US President Joe Biden in Geneva. Ties between the powers are badly strained over an array of issues.
The Russian leader said he expected the Geneva meeting to help establish bilateral dialogue and revive personal contacts, adding that important issues for the two sides included strategic stability, Libya and Syria, and the environment.
Mr Putin also praised Mr Biden for having shown "professionalism" when the US and Russia agreed this year to extend the New Start nuclear arms control treaty.
The White House has said Mr Biden will bring up ransomware attacks emanating from Russia at the meeting.
That issue is in the spotlight after a cyber attack disrupted the North American and Australian operations of meatpacker JBS.
A Russia-linked hacking group was behind that attack, a US source familiar with the matter said last week.
Asked if Russia would be prepared to find and prosecute cyber criminals, Mr Putin said Russia's behaviour here would depend on formal agreements being reached by Moscow and Washington. Both sides would have to commit to the same obligations, he said.
"If we agree to extradite criminals, then of course Russia will do that, we will do that, but only if the other side, in this case the United States, agrees to the same and will extradite the criminals in question to the Russian Federation," he said.
"The question of cyber security is one of the most important at the moment because turning all kinds of systems off can lead to really difficult consequences," he added.
Over in Switzerland, where the Biden-Putin summit will take place on Wednesday, Swiss officials were tightening security, deploying thousands of police and troops in Geneva to guard against any terrorist threat.
The two state leaders will meet at the Villa La Grange along Lake Geneva in their first face-to-face meeting since Mr Biden took office in January.
"We are on the eve of a historic moment," Mr Stephane Theimer, deputy director of the Swiss federal police, told reporters at the park surrounding the 18th-century villa, as a Swiss army helicopter did a flyover.
"The terrorist threat in Switzerland and in Europe remains high. Other threats from violent extremist groups are also relevant," he said. "We are on high alert with a significant deployment of forces."
The federal government in Bern last Friday declared a temporary restriction on Geneva air space from June 15 to 17.
The local authorities, which have put up barricades and barbed wire around the park, said they would shut down the lakefront city centre.
"The lakefront will be completely locked down on the 16th, for about 24 hours - no pedestrians, no vehicles, no boats," said Mr Francois Waridel, head of Geneva police operations.
Some 3,000 to 3,500 police will guard the villa, Cointrin airport, diplomatic missions and hotels.
The stately grey villa, which houses a collection of ancient leather-bound books, and its 30ha park offer a stunning view of Lake Geneva.
"The villa is symmetric, which is practical for meetings. We can give each delegation the exact same number of rooms," Ms Marion Bordier Bueschi, acting head of Geneva protocol, told reporters.
REUTERS
