The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Jack Brumby
The contrast could not have been more stark — or the timing more striking.
In dueling presidential speeches just hours apart Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his war in Ukraine and fiercely attacked the West, just hours before President Biden, fresh from a surprise visit to Kyiv, denounced Russian aggression and told an audience of thousands in gathered in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland that Mr. Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine “will never be a victory for Russia.”
The back-to-back addresses were a dramatic illustration of the deep chasm separating Russia and the West as the Ukraine wars nears the one-year mark this week, a chasm that grew even deeper when Mr. Putin announced in his nationally televised address Tuesday that he was suspending the last remaining major arms control deal with the U.S., with both sides accusing the other of bad faith.
And the determination both leaders expressed could not entirely mask the fact that both Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden are dealing with rising skepticism domestically as the conflict grinds on with no end in sight.
In Warsaw, Poland, Mr. Biden framed the ongoing war as a test of the world’s democracies to stand up to autocratic strongmen. He repeatedly blasted the Russian president by name and accused Moscow of committing crimes against humanity “without shame.”
“There will continue to be hard and very bitter days, victories and tragedies,” he said. “But Ukraine is steeled for the fight ahead and the United States, together with our allies and partners, are going to continue to have Ukraine’s back as it defends itself.”
That speech came hours after Mr. Putin, in an angry and grievance-filled speech, cast Russia as a victim of double-dealing by the West, which he said manipulated events to provoke war. In one minimal sign of restraint, Mr. Putin did not mention Mr. Biden directly in his remarks and spent much of the address — a delayed version of his annual state of the nation speech — to domestic issues.
The two men agreed on one thing: The war was about something larger than Ukraine, and its outcome would profoundly affect the international order.
“We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” Mr. Putin said in a nearly two-hour address. “The Ukrainian people have become hostages of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, who have effectively occupied the country.”
He said the invasion was justified to protect ethnic Russians living in the disputed Donbas territory and to ensure Russian territorial security. Mr. Putin also repeated his widely discredited claim that neo-Nazis were running the government in Ukraine.
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, took a much more personal line of attack, condemning his Russian counterpart as an autocratic strongman and a brutal dictator bent on crushing the human spirit. He said Mr. Putin and his generals badly misjudged how the war would play out and the Ukraine resistance marked a triumph of democracy over autocracy.
“President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail. And the Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail. Democracies in the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow and forever. For that’s what’s at stake here: Freedom,” Mr. Biden said in front of the Polish Presidential Palace, where he was greeted by repeated applause from an audience holding Ukraine, Polish and U.S. flags.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, in remarks to an event hosted by the Hudson Institute, echoed Mr. Biden’s argument that the outcome of the war in his country will have reverberations far beyond the region.
“Unless the enemy is defeated in Ukraine, the conflict will spread. The whole world is watching closely to see the consequences of this war,” he said. “If there is any indication that the tactic of armed aggression against a sovereign state works, military threats around the globe will increase.”
Perhaps the most significant outcome of Tuesday’s clashing visions was Mr. Putin’s announcement that Russia would stop participating in the New START nuclear arms treaty, the last major arms control pact in force between Moscow and Washington. Mr. Biden extended the 2010 deal for another five years shortly after taking office in 2021, but has found his arms control agenda frustrated by the deteriorating relationship with both Russia and China, a rising nuclear power.
New START established limits on U.S. and Russian nuclear arms stockpiles and calls for broad inspections of nuclear sites and other stipulations on the proliferation of such weapons.
Mr. Putin said Russia isn’t withdrawing from the pact yet, but suspending its participation. Hours after the address, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would still respect the treaty’s cap on nuclear weapons and continue to exchange information about test launches with the U.S.
Mr. Biden did not address the announcement in his remarks, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters the decision was “really unfortunate and very irresponsible.” He added that the U.S. will be watching closely and that avoiding a new nuclear arms race remained an administration priority.
“We remain ready to talk about strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia irrespective of anything else going on in the world or in our relationship,” Mr. Blinken told reporters while on a trip to Greece Tuesday. ” I think it matters that we continue to act responsibly in this area. It’s also something the rest of the world expects of us.”
Accident of timing
While the back-to-back speeches presented a startling tableau, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan insisted in remarks to reporters that Mr. Biden’s speech should not be viewed as a response to Mr. Putin. He said the date and time were selected to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the war.
“We did not set the speech up as some kind of head-to-head. This is not a rhetorical contest with anyone else,” Mr. Sullivan said. “This is an affirmative statement of values.”
Still, Mr. Biden sought to showcase a clear message of resolve and unity for Ukraine against Russian aggression and called on allies to remain united in the war effort.
One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Mr. Biden said. “Well, I have just come from a visit to Kyiv, and I can report that Kyiv stands strong. Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall. And most importantly, it stands free.”
“When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll in Ukraine he thought he would roll over. He was wrong. The Ukrainian people are too brave. America, Europe, and a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific were too unified. Democracy was too strong,” Mr. Biden continued.
Mr. Biden aimed to further isolate Mr. Putin and galvanize efforts to hold members of his government accountable through international courts and sanctions. He announced more sanctions would be imposed this week against Mr. Putin and his regime, but offered few details.
He addressed directly Mr. Putin’s repeated claim that decades of NATO expansion and the Kyiv’s recent moves against pro-Kremlin separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region were the real cause of the war.
“The West was not plotting to attack Russia,” Mr. Biden said. “This war was never a necessity; it’s a tragedy. President Putin chose this war. Every day the war continues is his choice.”
Mr. Biden also ticked off a list of Russian tactics, that he says amount crimes against humanity, including targeting civilians, using rape as a “weapon of war,” and bombing maternity hospitals, orphanages and schools.
“This has been an extraordinary year in every sense. Extraordinary brutality from Russian forces and mercenaries. They’ve committed depravities, crimes against humanity without shame or compunction,” he said, adding that the West will “seek justice” for the crimes.
While in Warsaw, Mr. Biden met Tuesday with Moldovan President Maia Sandu — who last week claimed Moscow was behind a plot to overthrow her country’s government using external saboteurs — and with his host Polish President Andrzej Duda, the Associated Press reported, again stressing the larger fight the Ukraine was symbolized.
“We have to have security in Europe,” Biden said at the presidential palace. “It’s that basic, that simple, that consequential.”
But Mr. Putin insisted that it was Russia that was under a threat from what he described as corrupt Western values. He added that by standing up to the West, Russia is standing up not just for its national sovereignty but for moral and cultural values he claimed the West is trying to subvert.
“The West declares that perversions including pedophilia, are part of the norm, destroys its values, calls on priests to bless same-sex marriages,” he said.
Mr. Putin added that Western nations are using what he called corrupt values to distract people’s attention away from “corruption scandals and economic-social problems.”
Facing santions and diplomatic isolation from the U.S. and its allies in Europe and Asia, Mr. Putin could boast at least one big friend, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, who was making a high-profile visit to Moscow this week. China, which U.S. officials this week warned against offering military aid in support of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, has backed Russia rhetorically in the war. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning a trip to Russia in the coming months.
The dueling speeches concluded a two-day trip to Europe for Mr. Biden to mark the anniversary of the Russian invasion. In Poland earlier Tuesday, Mr. Biden told Mr. Duda that Poland has been a key partner keeping military and financial aid flowing into Ukraine, as well as by accepting more than a million refugees from the war-ravaged country.
On Monday, Mr. Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday making the first time an American president entered a war zone with no active U.S. military presence. He met with Mr. Zelenskyy and toured the streets of Kyiv.
