US President Joe Biden assured this Wednesday in Warsaw that Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the New START nuclear disarmament treaty It’s a “grave mistake”.
When asked by a journalist, Biden replied “Serious mistake”, before a meeting with the leaders of the so-called Bucharest Nine (B9), a group of NATO allies, in the presence of the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.
The US president spoke in Poland, where he traveled to assure NATO allies on the eastern flank that the US will stand by them during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The two chambers of the Russian parliament on Wednesday ratified the decision announced the day before by President Vladimir Putin and denounced by the Western powers.
The move is expected to have an immediate impact on the possibilities of US monitoring of Russian nuclear activities, but the pact was already in danger of extinction following Moscow’s cancellation at the end of last year of talks that were meant to salvage a deal that both sides accuse each other of violating.
Meeting between Biden and the leaders of the European NATO countries
The US head of state made statements before meeting the leaders of the nine NATO countries of central-eastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) in the Polish capital.
The meeting, which started just before 14:00, was mainly devoted to the issue of support for Ukraine and the confirmation of mutual commitments.
In the introduction, Biden mentioned Finland’s NATO membership and stressed that the B9 countries remain the “front line of collective defense.”
“And you know, better than anyone, what is at stake in this conflict. Not only for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies in Europe and the world,” the US president added.
He promised that NATO’s mutual defense pact is “sacred” and that “we will defend literally every inch of NATO”.
For his part, Jens Stoltenberg declared that we must “break the cycle of Russian aggression”. “We must maintain and step up our support for Ukraine, give Ukraine what it needs to win,” he said.
“We don’t know when this war will end, but when it does, We must ensure that history does not repeat itself“, completed Stoltenberg.
Joe Biden has to leave Warsaw in the afternoon to return to his country, after a surprise visit to Kyiv and two days spent in Poland.
Source: AFP and AP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.