How Joe Biden’s Russia Comments Sent the White House Scrambling

Joe Biden managed to worsen an international crisis during his first press conference in 10 months after revealing disagreement within NATO about how to handle a “minor incursion” from Russia into Ukraine.

Washington Post: “In a lengthy, freewheeling news conference Wednesday, Biden, answering several questions on the Ukraine crisis, managed to spook Ukrainian leaders, undercut a united front sought by NATO and suggest that if Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine were ‘minor,’ the reaction by U.S. allies might be less severe.”

Biden’s comments set off a firestorm, including spooking top Ukrainian officials, about the administration’s posture towards Russia’s aggression. 

New York Times: “Ukrainian officials, among others, expressed dismay after Mr. Biden’s comments on Wednesday. ‘We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions,’ the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Twitter on Thursday.”

CNN: “The candid assessment of NATO’s divisions — which have been well documented, even as US and Western officials seek to project unity amid the crisis — left Ukrainian officials aghast. One told CNN’s Matthew Chance he was ‘shocked that the US President Biden would distinguish between incursion and invasion’ and suggest that a minor incursion would not trigger sanctions.

“‘This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,’ the official added, claiming he’d never heard any nuance like this from the US administration before. 

“‘Kyiv is stunned,’ he said, referring to the Ukrainian government.”

Politico: “Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also rebuked Biden’s remarks in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Thursday, arguing that they could embolden Russia to launch an attack on Ukraine.”

The fallout left the White House doing serious damage control on Biden’s one-year anniversary in office.

Washington Post: “Biden’s comments prompted his staff to come out and clarify immediately that any movement of Russian forces into Ukrainian territory — regardless of the size of the land occupied — would count as an invasion and prompt the severe sanctions and economic penalties the United States has been preparing with allies. Biden later endeavored Thursday to make that clear himself.”

NPR: “Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke about the situation with top officials from nine allies on NATO’s eastern flank, and his counterpart in Japan, the White House said.

“Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken — who is slated to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday — spoke with allies in Berlin.”

Whitney Robertson, America Rising PAC Press Secretary: “Joe Biden has repeatedly emboldened our adversaries while putting America’s allies in compromising positions. His latest mistake has worsened an international crisis and hamstrung his own diplomats.”