Joe Biden shores up Western allies as Vladimir Putin digs in on Ukraine

By Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller, Associated Press

President Joe Biden has closed out his wartime visit to Europe by working to shore up partnerships with allies perched on Nato’s perilous eastern flank.

At the same time, Russia’s Vladimir Putin is drawing closer to China as his invasion of Ukraine nears the one-year mark.

Mr Biden’s meeting with leaders of the Bucharest Nine nations in Warsaw came at the conclusion of a whirlwind, four-day visit to Ukraine and Poland meant to reassure allies that US support in fending off Russia is not at risk of waning.

In dramatic counterpoint, Mr Putin on Wednesday played host in Moscow to Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official, as U.S. intelligence warned that Beijing is considering supplying arms and ammunition to the worn-down Russian military.

The flexing of alliances was a fresh indication that both sides are digging in for prolonged conflict in Ukraine with the fighting expected to intensify with the arrival of spring.

Mr Biden’s trip had provided yet another moment of telling counterprogramming on Tuesday when he delivered a ringing speech on Western unity in Warsaw, a day after he swept into Kyiv unannounced for a visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

As Mr Biden spoke in Poland, Mr Putin announced that Russia was suspending its participation in the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty.

Mr Biden called that departure “a big mistake”. The exit is expected to have an immediate impact on US awareness of Russian nuclear activities.

However, the pact — known as New START — was already on life support following Moscow’s cancellation late last year of talks that had been intended to salvage an agreement that each side has accused the other of violating.

Mr Biden met on Wednesday with leaders of the Bucharest Nine, the nations in the easternmost parts of the Nato alliance that came together in response to Mr Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. They include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

“You’re the frontlines of our collective defence,” Mr Biden told them.

“And you know, better than anyone, what’s at stake in this conflict. Not just for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout Europe and around the world.”

These countries have worried that Mr Putin could move to take military action against them next if he is successful in Ukraine.

Mr Biden responded to that anxiety by pledging that Nato’s mutual defence pact is “sacred” and that “we will defend literally every inch of Nato.”

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who attended the meeting, pointed to past Russian actions in Georgia and Ukraine and said: “We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security. We must break the cycle of Russian aggression.”

It was unclear how the US and its allies aimed to do that, other than by continuing to arm Ukraine’s military with the Western and ageing Soviet arms that have allowed it to retake about half of the territory it lost in the opening days of the war.

Mr Biden returned to Washington late on Wednesday night.

After the Russian military’s battlefield shortcomings were revealed at the start of the conflict, Mr Putin, too, has been seeking rearmament, drawing on Iran and North Korea for assistance — and potentially China.

Administration officials do not yet have an indication that China has decided to move forward on sending Moscow weaponry, but secretary of state Antony Blinken said this week it would be a “serious problem” should Beijing follow through.

Throughout the conflict, China has cautiously weighed the pros and cons of directly aiding Russia. But a year into the war, Beijing now seems increasingly concerned that Russia — one of its closest allies — is teetering toward something that could approximate a loss in Ukraine.

The US and its allies have threatened secondary sanctions on countries that support the Russian war effort. But there was no concensus this week on potentially steeper sanctions for China, which could have global economic implications, should it decide to rearm Mr Putin’s forces.