US President Joe Biden – today Wednesday – in Warsaw with 9 leaders of Eastern and Central Europe, in the presence of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), affirms Washington’s “firm” support. Following Vladimir Putin’s fiery speech on Tuesday.
And the White House said — in a statement — that Biden “will meet with Bucharest 9 (B9) leaders in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to reaffirm America’s firm support for the alliance’s security. .”
Nine countries — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia — are all former Soviet republics or members of the Cold War-led Warsaw Pact on NATO’s eastern flank.
The meeting, which will be held at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, aims to reassure the nine countries, following a sharp attack by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia announces suspension of Russian-US “New START” nuclear disarmament, reminiscent of darkest stages of Cold War.
But the Russian Foreign Ministry pressed Putin’s announcement – in a statement – that “Russia intends to adhere to a responsible approach and strictly adhere to the quantitative restrictions on strategic offensive weapons specified in the treaty.”
AndPutin called on Russian forces to “be ready to test nuclear weapons” if the US conducts a nuclear test first.
Blaming Washington and its European allies for “fueling the Ukrainian conflict and (falling) its victims,” the Russian president insisted the West wanted “a strategic defeat on Russia, that is, to eliminate us completely.”
“NATO will not weaken, will not split”
Biden, on the other hand, responded in a speech he gave in Warsaw the same day – the day after his unannounced visit to Kiev – that “the West is not plotting to attack Russia as Putin claimed” and that “all millions of Russian citizens are. They want to live in peace with their neighbors, not with the enemy.”
The US President affirmed that their support for Ukraine “will not weaken, NATO will not split or tire”, stressing that “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia… Never (…) Ukraine will be independent”.
“When Putin ordered his forces to invade Kiev a year ago, he thought we would be idle, but he was wrong,” he said, adding that America’s commitment to the Ukrainian people and Ukraine’s sovereignty is unwavering, and that “democracy will inevitably win out.” “Illusion,” he believed. Putin disbanded after a year of war
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