Ukraine tension: Biden says he thinks Putin will 'move in'
Joe Biden: "It is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine"
US President Joe Biden has said he thinks his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will "move in" on Ukraine but does not want "full-blown war".
He told a news conference Mr Putin would pay a "serious and dear price" for invading, but indicated a minor incursion might be treated differently.
The White House later stressed any Russian military move would be met with a swift, severe response from the West.
Russia has some 100,000 troops near the border but denies planning an invasion.
President Putin has made a series of demands to the West, insisting Ukraine is never allowed to join Nato and that the defensive alliance abandons military activity in Eastern Europe.
'New security order for Europe'
Talks between the West and Russia have so far failed to reach a breakthrough, with some of Moscow's demands rejected as non-starters. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to meet the Russian foreign minister in Geneva on Friday, having warned that Russia could attack Ukraine "on very short notice".
However, at his news conference on Wednesday, Mr Biden said: "There are differences in Nato as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens.
"If there's Russian forces crossing the border… I think that changes everything.
"What you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades and it depends on what it does," he said. "It's one thing if it's a minor incursion, and then we end up having to fight about what to do and not do etc."
White House officials rushed to clarify the US position after Mr Biden's comments. "If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies," press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron told the European Parliament that Europeans had to conduct their own dialogue with Moscow.
Biden blows the cover on Nato unity
Administration officials and Nato allies can't be happy about Biden spelling out Nato differences so publicly and clearly. The relentless public messaging has been about unity.
But the president has revealed the cracks beneath that, prompting a question about whether he's giving Putin permission for an incursion.
Now the president has clearly stated what everyone privately knew - that Nato is united on what the response should be to an invasion, but not to an incursion: "There are differences in what countries are willing to do depending on what happens.
"If Russian forces cross the border killing Ukrainians, that changes everything. It depends what he does in terms of getting unity in Nato."
Russia seized and annexed the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine in 2014 after Ukrainians overthrew their pro-Russian president. Ever since, Ukraine's military has been locked in a war with Russian-backed rebels in areas of the east near Russia's borders.
IMAGE SOURCE,BELARUS DEFENCE MINISTRYImage caption,
Russian troops and tanks have headed to Belarus for exercises close to Ukraine's borders
There are fears that the conflict, which has claimed 14,000 lives and caused at least two million people to flee their homes, may reignite and that Russia's military will cross the border.
Putin will 'test the West'
Asked for his views on Mr Putin's intentions, President Biden said: "Do I think he'll test the West? Test the United States and Nato as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will but I think he'll pay a serious and dear price for it."
"He's never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves," Mr Biden said, adding that the exact level of punishment would depend on the scale of any invasion.
Asked how concerned he was about the possibility of a conflict in Ukraine sucking in neighbouring Nato states, he said: "The only war that is worse than one that's intended is when it's unintended and what I'm concerned about is that this could get out of hand.
"I am hoping that Vladimir Putin understands that he is, short of a full-blown nuclear war, he is not in a very good position to dominate the world. And so I don't think he thinks that, but it is a concern."
He also said it was "very important" Nato allies stay on the same page in the face of a potential Russian attack.
Mr Biden said that the US remained open for discussions with Russia and that a summit with Mr Putin was still a "possibility".
Russian troops and tanks have headed to Belarus for exercises close to Ukraine's borders
There are fears that the conflict, which has claimed 14,000 lives and caused at least two million people to flee their homes, may reignite and that Russia's military will cross the border.
Putin will 'test the West'
Asked for his views on Mr Putin's intentions, President Biden said: "Do I think he'll test the West? Test the United States and Nato as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will but I think he'll pay a serious and dear price for it."
"He's never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves," Mr Biden said, adding that the exact level of punishment would depend on the scale of any invasion.
Asked how concerned he was about the possibility of a conflict in Ukraine sucking in neighbouring Nato states, he said: "The only war that is worse than one that's intended is when it's unintended and what I'm concerned about is that this could get out of hand.
"I am hoping that Vladimir Putin understands that he is, short of a full-blown nuclear war, he is not in a very good position to dominate the world. And so I don't think he thinks that, but it is a concern."
He also said it was "very important" Nato allies stay on the same page in the face of a potential Russian attack.
Mr Biden said that the US remained open for discussions with Russia and that a summit with Mr Putin was still a "possibility".
Treacherous France and Treacherous Germany are preparing to offer Ukraine to Russia on a platter in order to ensure Nordstream 2 gas continues to flow.
ReplyDeletewhy treacherous??? Any obligations on Germany and France to defend Ukraine?
DeleteThe geography of Western Europe hasn't really changed from that of 1941 and 1981.
DeleteOnce Russian tanks are sitting on the WESTERN border of Ukraine, there are superhighways that reach straight into Munich and Berlin.
And Paris if they want to.
The Yanks are on the other side if the Atlantic ocean, across vulnerable sea lanes.
If the French and Germans are perfidious enough to offer the Russians a Munich 1938--style appeasement, they are irredeemable.
Wakakakakaka…
DeleteWho create that political scenario since that 1938-style appeasement?
A know-nothing his-story retold with Yankee dressings!
First, I doubt if Biden will last his full term as President on medical grounds.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Russia is already setting the stage for an invasion of Ukraine. I doubt if the sanctions will be a deterrent.
Third, Putin would see this as the golden opportunity to realise his dream of a Greater Russia. He can see the US is weak and will have little incentive to be drawn into a war. Economic sanctions will beget sanctions. And China stands firmly on Russia's side.
Fourth, the combined NATO military does not seem able to stand up to the Russian bear.
Finally as in 2014 where Russia annexed Crimea, nothing much will happend in the case of an Ukrainian invasion.
The West has no appetite for war and Putin knows it.
The reality is Russia WOULDN'T invade Ukraine physically & openly.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it would quietly encourage those eastern Ukraine regions to revoke against the current pro-US administration.
In another word - the repeat of the Crimea episode.
Those Russia-backed anti-government separatist groups would exercise strong military reactions in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, collectively called the Donbas region. Eventually these regions would fall in step with Crimea since close to 90% of the populace in these 'renegade' regions r strongly pro-Russia.
Thus, the eventual annexation of these regions to join Russia would be an internal Ukrainian conflicts of cessation.
Nothing to do with Russia! & There is NO Russia invasion too.
What would the US & NATO do in this circumstances?
Getting involved with the internal Ukrainian political crisis, which in the first place was initiated by they themselves?
In short, the NATO & the Biden administration have been outmanoeuvred in a geopolitical Machiavellian move by Putin!
The threatened 'world' sanctions as expounded by the Biden administration WOULD only cause a small ripple in the Russian sopo-economical scenes.
Russia has other allies to counteract those non-cohesive US measures, simply bcoz amongst the US pact members, everyone have their own individual & selfish homegrown interests & political considerations.
Putin has no intention to invade Ukraine. Period.
ReplyDeleteThe Russian troops along the border is to warn Ukraine not to violate the Minsk Protocol again. If Ukraine doesn't start a war, there won't be one. Zelensky is the villain provocateur trying to draw NATO into a war with Russia, and the US is the ultimate villain of it all in pulling all the marionette strings.
The warning by Russia ( by amassing some troops along the border ) is to prevent Ukraine from bombing ethnic Russians in Donbass. Also, Russia don't enjoy having US missiles in Ukraine aiming at Moscow. NATO's guns on Ukrainian soil is the same as Soviet guns on Cuba..remember 1961 ? If Ukraine join NATO, it won't be independent as it claims it wants to be. NATO's army in Ukraine is just a day's march to Moscow which is totally unacceptable to a country who has a long history of invasions from the West, starting with Napoleon to Hitler...So Ukraine joining NATO is, for Russia, a war declaration. The West, in actuality, is building up threats against Russia, not the other way around. Trust the lying Western media at your own peril.
The right question should be asked and from there we will arrive at the right answer.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the role and function of NATO ?
* NATO is a US geopolitical project
* NATO's purpose is to contain or weaken Russia
* NATO is trying to isolate and marginalize Russia
* NATO should have been disbanded at the end of the Cold War
Some people are accusing Germany of 'disloyalty' to NATO
ReplyDeleteThese people conveniently forget that Germany had long played a part supporting USA's new cold war against Russia. But Germany refused to allow the US interfering in Germany's energy infrastructure. Just as Germany does not interfere in the US' internal politics ( its racism, its bullying other countries, etc ), Germany expects the same from USA. It is none of the USA's business from where Germany buys its oil. The Nord Stream 2 ( not yet opened ) will bring down the energy price for Germany by three-fold. Germany needs Russian gas more than Russia needs to sell it...China, South Korea and Japan are screaming for Russian gas.