US President Joseph Biden said on Thursday that the days of the US "rolling on its back" to Russian President Vladimir Putin are over and demanded the immediate release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
During his first visit to the State Department as president, Biden lashed out at Putin as thousands of protesters were arrested in large-scale protests across Russia following Navalny's jailing.
Navalny, said Biden, "like all citizens of Russia, he is entitled to his rights under the Russian Constitution. But he was targeted, he was a target because he exposed corruption. He should be released immediately and unconditionally."
The new US president also wanted to make it clear to the world that he is dramatically turning away from Putin, unlike Republican President Donald Trump, who avoided direct confrontation and often tried to downplay the Russian leader's malign actions.
"I made it clear to President Putin, in a very different way from my predecessor, that the days of the United States 'rolling over its back' in the face of Russian aggressive actions - meddling in our elections, cyber-attacks, poisoning its own citizens - are over." said Biden, who spoke with Putin last Sunday in what White House officials called a "tense first exchange of views."
"We will not hesitate to increase the cost (of its actions) to Russia and defend our vital interests and our people," Biden said.
Biden has introduced a broad "reset" of US foreign policy, including reversing Trump's order to withdraw US troops stationed in Germany, ending support for Saudi Arabia's military offensive in Yemen and pledging to make support for LBGTQ rights a cornerstone of diplomacy.
Related Articles
"America is back. Diplomacy is back," Biden told State Department staff.
Biden visiting the State Department so early in his term is a deliberate symbolic sign of his interest in foreign policy.
Trump only visited the foreign policy service after more than a year, and only because then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was sworn in in 2018.
The former president has repeatedly attacked the State Department for being part of the "deep state" that undermines his government.
Trump has vilified and fired diplomats and for years tried to cut the State Department's budget by a third.
Biden, contrary to Trump, chose a man of his long-term confidence, Anthony Blinken, as secretary of state, with the aim of reviving the American diplomatic corps whose ranks have been thinned and the composition demoralized after four years of the Trump administration.
To the officials who welcomed him, Biden said: "I promise I'll have your back, and I expect the American people to have your back as well."
Bonus video:
