What to know about Biden's trip to Poland and Ukraine
- President Joe Biden marked the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a visit to Poland, a key NATO ally, with a rousing speech in Warsaw after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda earlier in the day.
- Biden's speech called out Vladimir Putin by name, but he did not directly address the Russian president's announcement earlier Tuesday that Moscow was suspending participation in New START, a key nuclear arms control treaty and the last such agreement between the two countries.
- Here's why Biden's clandestine trip to Kyiv on Monday — the first time in modern history an American president entered a war zone where there is no active U.S. military presence — matters.
Biden touches on a major campaign theme in his Poland speech on the Ukraine war
President Joe Biden echoed his 2020 campaign and alluded to his all-but-certain re-election bid in Poland on Tuesday, as he lauded the democracies of the world for coming to Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s year-old invasion.
Warsaw, Poland, is an odd backdrop for an American president to launch his re-election campaign — and Biden did not do that — but, as he gears up to run again, Biden emphasized the parallel he draws between domestic political fights and his view of a global battle pitting freedom against tyranny.
The dueling speeches Tuesday by President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin are perhaps another indicator of the strained communication between Russia and the United States. The two leaders had previously agreed to regular “strategic stability dialogue” after their first meeting in 2021, but the pursuit of that quietly ended after Russia invaded Ukraine. Both sides have pointed to the other as the aggressor as the conflict has reached new heights. The speeches gave little hope that there is much path for reconciliation between Biden and Putin or their two countries — or that the two leaders would meet again anytime soon — while Russia's war drags on.
Biden didn’t address the elephant in the room for Russian-American relations: Putin’s decision to "suspend" the New START treaty. Any discussion of that escalation by Russia would have been at odds with Biden’s triumphant message. But ignoring it doesn’t diminish the peril of Russia pulling back from limits on nuclear weapons.
Poland has taken more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine, which Biden took some time to recognize. “Thank you, Poland. Thank you, thank you, thank you for what you’re doing,” he said to conclude his speech.
Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, noted on Twitter that this is a way that other NATO members contribute to the alliance beyond defense spending: “Many Americans don’t understand how much Europeans have done for refugees. This is part of ‘burden sharing’ too.”
Biden: ‘No sweeter word than freedom’
President Joe Biden stressed that “all decisions are ours to make now" and that "the principles and the stakes are eternal."
He said that there is a "choice" to be made "between chaos and stability, between building and destroying, between hope and fear, between democracy that lifts up the human spirit and the brutal hand of the dictator who crushes it, between nothing less than limitation and possibilities — the kind of possibilities that come with people who live out of captivity, but in freedom. Freedom, freedom — there’s no sweeter word than freedom.”
After President Joe Biden finished his remarks, Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” came on and a large group of children waving Ukrainian and American flags walked out and surrounded him. A White House pool report said “embassy staff and children” were invited to Biden’s speech, but it’s unclear if those were the children on the stage.
Biden says U.S. will hit Russia with new sanctions this week
President Joe Biden said that the U.S. and its allies will announce new sanctions against Russia this week to "seek justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity" committed by Russian troops.
He added that the U.S. and its partners maintain the largest sanction regime ever imposed on a country. The new sanctions, he said, will "hold accountable those who are responsible for this war."
Though there are some who are critical of the New START treaty for its scope and the pause of its onsite weapon inspections during the pandemic, it undoubtedly has played a powerful role in capping nuclear forces as tensions between the U.S. and Russia increased. Without it, as the Ukraine war began, the world may have seen calls for increased nuclear weapon deployments and another arms race.
