Putin Offers To Trade Cyber Criminals if Biden Agrees To Hand People Over To Russia

Russian President 👤Vladimir Putin says he would be willing to swap cybercriminals with the United States if President 👤Joe Biden is willing to make a deal.

Putin made the comments in an interview that aired in excerpts on state television on Sunday, according to Reuters.

Biden is scheduled to meet with Putin on Wednesday in Geneva.

One issue on the agenda is the increasing number of cyberattacks coming from Russia. After a ransomware attack from criminals believed to be based in Russia that shut down the Colonial Pipeline, a cyberattack disrupted meatpacker JBS.

Putin said that a deal to go after cybercriminals could be possible if the United States and Russia were to abide by the same rules, Putin 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 cybersecurity is one of the most important at the moment because turning all kinds of systems off can lead to really difficult consequences,” he said.