In a direct counter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Joe Biden told a public audience in Poland the West was not “plotting to attack Russia.”
Both leaders delivered addresses on Tuesday ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Putin, who was speaking to his country’s political and military elite, accused the West of trying to destroy Russia — a claim that couldn’t be further from the truth, Biden said Tuesday evening local time.
“Tonight, I speak once more to the people of Russia: the United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West is not plotting to attack Russia as Putin said today, and millions of Russian citizens (who) only want to live in peace with their neighbours are not the enemy,” Biden said in a speech to a crowd in Poland. Biden was in Poland after making a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday.
“This war is never a necessity. It’s a tragedy. President Putin chose this war. Every day the war continues is his choice. He could end the war with a word. It’s simple. If Russia stopped invading Ukraine, it would end the war. If Ukraine stop defending itself against Russia, it would be the end of Ukraine. That’s why together we’re making sure Ukraine can defend itself.”
In his own speech, Putin delivered a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine, suspending a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, announcing new strategic systems had been put on combat duty and warning that Moscow could resume nuclear tests.
Cautioning the United States that it was stoking the war into a global conflict, Putin said that Russia was suspending participation in the New START Treaty, the last major arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington.
It limits the number of nuclear warheads the world’s two biggest nuclear powers can deploy and is due to expire in 2026.
“I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,” Putin told his country’s political and military elite.
The Russian leader said, without citing evidence, that some people in Washington were thinking about resuming nuclear testing. Russia’s defence ministry and nuclear corporation should therefore be ready to test Russian nuclear weapons if necessary, he said.
“Of course, we will not do this first. But if the United States conducts tests, then we will. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed,” Putin said.
“A week ago, I signed a decree on putting new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty. Are they going to stick their nose in there too, or what?”
It was not immediately clear which ground-based systems had been put on combat duty.
Russia and the United States still have vast arsenals of nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War. They are by far the biggest nuclear powers, holding between them 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear warheads.
The New START Treaty limited both sides to 1,550 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. Both sides met the central limits by 2018.
— with files from Reuters