- Paul Kirby
- bbc news
image source,Getty Images
On February 21, in Moscow, Russia, President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech at the annual session of the Federal Parliament.
U.S. President Joe Biden just finished his visit to Kiev. He praised Western democracies for their ability to bravely face Russia’s naked aggression. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s criticism of the West has become more pointed.
Days before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday, Putin vowed to press ahead with the war of aggression in Ukraine in his annual State of the Nation address.
He claimed that the West, which had pampered Nazi Germany, had now turned Ukraine into an “anti-Russian” neo-Nazi regime.
Hours later, Biden said dictators only understand one word: “No, no, no!”
Biden said: “Putin thought the world would turn over, and he was wrong.” Biden said NATO is more united than ever. He also said that Kiev is strong, proud, tall and free, and that Western support for Ukraine will not fail.
Polish President Andrzej Duda welcomed Biden to the Royal Castle in Warsaw, saying Biden’s visit to Kiev showed the free world has nothing to fear. NATO’s role is to defend and support the free world, and Ukraine “must win this war.”
Only hours passed between Biden’s speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw and Putin’s State of the Union address.
Putin’s speech made little mention of Russian military advances in Ukraine and offered no indication of how the war might end. The main news regarding the Russian military came from Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner’s mercenary group, who accused the top Russian military of trying to destroy his group and starve it of weapons.
Putin announced the suspension of the “New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty” signed with the United States in 2010. The agreement limited the number of nuclear warheads, and NATO and British leaders urged him to reconsider.
Putin also announced that he had put the new ground system into combat duty. Last year, he threatened to use “all means at his disposal” to defend Russia and the territories it occupies in Ukraine.
Putin delivered a lengthy speech at an exhibition center just a stone’s throw from the Kremlin, in which he made no statement regarding the war.
“They are the ones who started the war…we are using force to stop it,” President Putin asserted in a speech to the Russian Federation Parliament.
Ukrainian mortar teams were on duty near Bakhmut this week.
No Western troops have yet entered Ukraine, but the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy on Tuesday, saying Washington should take steps to withdraw “U.S.-NATO troops and equipment” from Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry appears to have stepped up the argument.
Putin, who has accused the West and NATO countless times, reiterated many of his claims in a televised speech on the day of the invasion a year ago. He reminded Russians of the war in Iraq and the bombing of Belgrade, but said nothing regarding Russia’s long and devastating role in the Syrian civil war, its invasion of neighboring Georgia, and its seizure of land in Crimea.
As he speaks, one should be acutely aware of the massive loss of life in Europe’s deadliest invasion since World War II. Kherson, liberated from Russian forces in November, was hit by Russian shells, killing six and wounding many more. A bus station, a pharmacy and residential areas in the city center were hit, and local media said a kindergarten was also hit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech on Tuesday night that the Russian attack “did not and might not have any military purpose” but to spread “terror”.
He also said that despite intense pressure, Ukrainian troops were maintaining positions on the Udon front, where most of the fighting is currently taking place.
What is New START?
In 2010, the two then-presidents, Obama and Medvedev, signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, aimed at preventing nuclear war. It limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads each side can deploy and gives both countries the power to police each other.
The treaty entered into force in 2011 and was extended 10 years later – despite arms monitoring being disrupted by the pandemic.
Both countries have a cap of 1,550 long-range nuclear warheads each, a figure lower than promised in previous START agreements.
These two Cold War rivals possess nearly all the nuclear weapons in the world. Russia has previously said it wanted to continue the treaty despite hostile rhetoric from both sides during the Ukraine war.
President Biden traveled to Kiev to meet with President Zelenskiy the day before his trip to Warsaw, a highly complex security operation.
The Polish president said the visit sent an “extremely important political signal, mainly for Ukraine”, but also showed that the free world and the US president stood with him and that he had not been forgotten.
Biden praised Zelensky and the Ukrainian people for reclaiming land lost to Russian forces just weeks following the war began.
He also expressed support for Moldova’s pro-EU President Maia Sandu amid allegations that Russia is plotting to overthrow the current government.
On Tuesday, President Putin rescinded a 2012 decree, a move that heightened tensions in Moldova. The decree supports Moldovan sovereignty to address the future of Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria. Russian troops are stationed in the area.
Ukrainian officials said civilians were killed in the middle of the streets of Kherson, as well as in their homes and workplaces.
President Biden, who will meet the leaders of the nine countries on NATO’s eastern flank on Wednesday, made a point of reaffirming U.S. support for a key NATO commitment.
Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO members commit to defending other members under attack. Biden said the U.S. commitment to NATO and the terms is “rock solid.”
“Every NATO member knows this, and so does Russia — an attack on one is an attack on all.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is visiting Ukraine for the first time since Biden’s visit to Kiev on Tuesday. During a visit to the towns of Bacha and Irpin, where Russian troops killed hundreds of civilians, she said Ukrainians might count on Italy. “We have stood with you from the beginning and will stand with you until the end.”