Biden travels to Europe to form a united front against Russia

The president of United States, Joe Bidenarrived in Brussels on Wednesday where he will participate on Thursday in a marathon of summits with the aim of reinforcing the unity of Western countries and consolidating sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.

In the Belgian capital, the US president will initially speak at a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), then one of the G7 and finally one of the leaders of the European Union.

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The three summits will be held exactly one month after the start of the offensive of Russia against targets in Ukraine.

On the flight from Washington, aboard the presidential plane Air Force One, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced that the United States will announce on Thursday “a package of sanctions against “political figures” as well as Russian “oligarchs” and “entities”.

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On its side, the EU has already adopted heavy sanctions against Russian officials, banks and tycoons, but for the moment these restrictive measures do not extend to the energy sector, due to the evident European dependence on Russia’s hydrocarbons.

On Thursday, the G7 could announce special measures to prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions imposed by a significant number of Western countries.

At NATO, Biden and the other leaders will discuss deploying additional combat forces to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, as he had already done to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

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On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is determined to “do everything possible to support Ukraine. But we have a responsibility to ensure that the war does not escalate beyond Ukraine into a NATO-Russia conflict.”

Before boarding Air Force One for Brussels, Biden had said in Washington that the possibility of a Russian chemical weapons attack on Ukraine was a “real threat.”

In the letter he sent to European leaders inviting them to the meeting in Brussels, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that the summit with Biden will allow them to discuss “Russia’s current military aggression against Ukraine.”

“Russia is increasingly attacking the civilian population and targeting hospitals, schools and shelters. These war crimes must stop immediately,” Michel noted in his invitation letter.

In this scenario, one of the objectives of Biden’s exhausting agenda in Brussels is to consolidate unity between the United States and the EU.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden will seek to “reinforce the incredible unity that we have built with our allies and partners.”

After the three summits on Thursday, Biden will travel to Poland on Friday, a neighbor of Ukraine and now on the front line in what some call the new Cold War. On Saturday he will hold a meeting with his president, Andrzej Duda.

China also on the agenda

Although Western-armed Ukrainian forces have successfully resisted the Russian onslaught, Sullivan was against any expectation of a quick end to the war or Moscow’s withdrawal.

If the conflict drags on, Russia’s ability to weather military losses and economic sanctions will depend in part on where its partner, China, stands.

Beijing has refused to condemn the war or endorse Western sanctions. Until now, Washington’s main objective has been to ensure that the Chinese do not actively intervene on the Kremlin’s side, be it by rescuing the Russian economy or even sending weapons.

Biden “will certainly consult on a potential Chinese involvement in the conflict in Ukraine while he is in Brussels and also in NATO,” Sullivan explained.

“He will also do so when he addresses the 27 leaders of the European Union, because on April 1, the European Union will have a summit with China,” he said.

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Source: Elcomercio

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