The president reveals that NATO allies do not agree on what type of economic sanctions they would apply
The White House has already calculated that Russia will invade Ukraine “because Putin is seeking his place in the world between China and the West,” US President Joe Biden warned Wednesday during an extensive press conference to take stock of his first year in office. which lasted almost two hours. To the shock of the Ukrainian rulers, who counted on the firmness of the United States as a retaining wall, the US president anticipated that if it is “a minor incursion” his response will be limited to imposing sanctions “such as they have never seen before.”
But more than a threat, Biden’s words sounded like a green light in Eastern Europe. Russia has mobilized 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. “My idea is that it will go in,” he said quietly. That would have “economic consequences” for Russia, but according to what he said, the NATO allies do not agree on which ones. “It’s one thing to do a minor incursion where we end up fighting over what to do or not to do, and another to do a full-scale invasion,” he explained.
In the latter case, “it would be a disaster for Russia,” he warned, “because our allies and partners are ready to impose a severe cost that does significant damage to Russia and the Russian economy.” None of that sounded strong enough in Kiev to dissuade Putin from finishing annexing the rest of Ukraine, as he did with the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
Biden has spoken to Putin twice in the past month, but he surely hasn’t revealed as much to him as he did during this press conference in which he underscored the importance of consensus among NATO allies. “That’s why I’m spending so much time talking to them,” he said, “there are differences about what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens.”
“Overwhelmingly Superior”
The spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Emily Home, confirmed that she was referring to the different actions that Russia can take in “the military, non-military, paramilitary or cyber path.” Even if Moscow chooses the military path, Biden anticipates that it will cost him “many lives” but that he will be able to prevail. For the US president, Putin has to decide between de-escalating the situation through diplomatic channels or facing the consequences of a confrontation. “Militarily they are overwhelmingly superior,” he acknowledged.
This ruled out the possibility that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could unleash an international war, which would have been the first confrontation between the two nuclear powers since World War II. “Do I think it will test the West? What will test the United States and NATO, as significantly as it can? Yes I believe it. But I think he will pay a serious price for it.”
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