section_path: History/Biden administration (2021–2025)
section_name: Biden administration (2021–2025)
paragraph_text: Biden administration (2021–2025)
  
  Following the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on January 17, 2021, Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, stated: "Mr. Navalny should be immediately released, and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable. The Kremlin's attacks on Mr. Navalny are not just a violation of human rights, but an affront to the Russian people who want their voices heard."
  
  On the day of Biden's inauguration, Russia urged the new administration to take a "more constructive" approach in talks over the extension of the 2010 New START treaty, accusing the first Trump administration of "deliberately and intentionally" dismantling international arms control agreements and attacking its "counterproductive and openly aggressive" approach in talks. On January 26, Biden and Putin agreed that they would extend by five years the New START treaty, which would otherwise have expired in February 2021.
  
  On March 17, 2021, the Russian foreign ministry announced that Russia had recalled its ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, for "consultations" in a move that was characterized by the ministry's spokesperson as being without precedent for a Russia ambassador to the U.S. The recall came after Biden said he thought that Putin was "a killer" and said he would "pay the price" for the interference in the 2020 U.S. election, which had been confirmed by a declassified DNI report released the previous day. The State Department commented on the recall by saying that while the U.S. would work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, they would "be able to hold Russia accountable for any of their malign actions".
  
  On April 15, the U.S. announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions on six Russian technology companies as well as 32 other individuals and entities. The new sanctions also targeted ruble-denominated sovereign debt. Nevertheless, the economic punishments were assessed by observers as "more bark than bite" and likely to be "largely symbolic", with the ruble even rebounding against the dollar on the news. Biden commented the United States "could have gone further" with the sanctions, but that he had opted for a milder form of sovereign-debt sanctions for now because he wanted to avoid a "cycle of escalation and conflict." Russia retaliated the following day, expelling 10 U.S. diplomats and suggesting the U.S. ambassador return home for consultations.
  
  On May 19, the Biden administration lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that was being built between Russia and Germany. While President Biden believed the project was bad, the U.S. State Department explained it had concluded that it was in the "U.S. national interest" to waive the sanctions.
  
  In May 2021, Biden and Putin agreed to meet as the relationship between the countries was being assessed to be at the lowest point since the 1980s. At the meeting in Geneva in mid-June, the countries′ leaders reached an agreement to return their ambassadors to their posts in each other's capitals, no progress was made in overcoming the major points of contention.
  
  On August 21, the Department of State imposed increased sanctions on Russia for alleged poisoning of Alexei Navalny. These sanctions include a ban on ammunition imports into the United States, as well as restrictions of small arm sales.
  
  On December 1, 2021, Russia's Foreign Ministry told U.S. diplomats who have been working in Moscow for more than three years, to leave the country by January 31, 2022. The move came in response to news on November 28, 2021, that the US would be expelling 27 Russian diplomatic staff by the end of January 2022.
  
  On February 21, 2023, Russian president Vladimir Putin suspended the New START agreement.