Biden Says His Phone Conversation with Putin ‘Went Well’

"I made it very clear to him that the United States expects, when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil, even though it’s not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is," the US leader said, TASS reported.

"And, secondly, that we have set up a means of communications now, on a regular basis, to be able to communicate to one another when each of us thinks something is happening in another country that affects the home country," he continued. "And so, it (the phone conversation) went well. I’m optimistic."

When a journalist reminded Biden of his promise that cyber attacks on the United States would entail consequences and asked whether those consequences would follow, Biden replied "Yes," but gave no details.

The phone conversation of the Russian and US leaders took place on Friday.