Security News > 2021 > October > US invites friends to multilateral cybersecurity meetings – Russia and China strangely absent
The United States has kicked off meetings attended by representatives of nations that all hope to address the scourge of ransomware - without Russia or China in the room.
An expression of the US National Security Council's Counter-Ransomware Initiative, the two-day meetings will occupy Wednesday and Thursday.
"The initiative builds on President Biden's leadership to rally allies and partners to counter the shared threat of ransomware," said a senior administration official about the two-day virtual meeting of ministers and senior officials from over 30 countries and the EU. China and Russia aren't at the event.
It was made clear that the US engages separately and directly with Russia on the issue of ransomware, and Russia's future attendance in such engagements was not ruled out.
"The headline, folks, should really be around US government leading and bringing countries together to fight ransomware effectively," said the official, who later conceded that Russia was not invited, rather than simply unavailable to attend the party.
"Russia plays a role because of a number of criminal actors who are, you know, operating from Russia. And that is the reason that President Biden established with his counterpart - with President Putin - a dedicated channel for us to have very focused and candid discussions. And that's why I noted to you that we've had several and they continue," spake the senior administration official.