Biden meets Nato allies in Poland after Putin appears at rally
Biden meets Nato allies in Poland: Hello and a very warm welcome U.S President Joe Biden has been facing calls to provide more Military Support to Nato member countries in Eastern Europe he’s been meeting with leaders from nine countries on NATO’s Eastern flank known as the Bucharest nine group they’ve been discussing ways to continue sending military and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine for what
could be a long and drawn-out War some of the Eastern European leaders also now see Russia as a direct threat to their own country to security while addressing the leaders of the Bucharest nine President Biden reaffirmed America’s commitment to Nato commitment of the United States to Nato and I’ve said it to you many times I’ll say it
again is absolutely clear Article 5 is a sacred commitment the United States has made we will defend literally every inch of NATO and is this an important moment I look forward to the discussion the next steps we can take together and to keep our line strong and to further deter aggression well let’s talk
to our correspondent Sarah Rainsford who is in Warsaw and following all the developments for us hi Sarah well the Bucharest nine not a grouping that many people may be all that familiar with how significant is it that President Biden is addressing them today I think it’s pretty significant I think you know it shows that this part of
the world this Eastern side this Eastern edge of NATO has gained far more significance since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine a year ago now hard to believe isn’t it it is just a year since that happened but so much has changed and the importance of this region is just one part of that we’ve been on the
The Border here in eastern Ukraine and we’ve seen how the landscape has changed how there’s much more Weaponry now on this border we saw Patriot missile systems U.S anti-aircraft missiles now in place defending the Eastern edge of NATO because the fear is of those countries that now make up or that make up the Bucharest nine uh their
fear is that the war in Ukraine could spill across the border and could escalate into something far more serious far more wide-ranging and that’s what they wanted to hear from President Biden today guarantees from NATO from President Biden that if something happens on the border if Russian aggression expands then NATO will step in to protect every single
one of its members and that’s why I think it was so important for countries like Poland to hear President Biden say today that defending NATO territory every member was a sacred thing yeah most of those countries have warned of Russian aggression for years haven’t they and many May well feel Vindicated today and but will those reassurances be
enough do you think yeah I mean I don’t think anyone wanted to feel Vindicated did they but certainly I think there is a sense that many of these countries have been shouting loudly about Russian aggression and and they’ve been dismissed as as perhaps hysterical you know too hung up on history and yet of course we have seen
Russian aggression we are seeing it and we’re seeing the consequences in Ukraine every single day I think you know in terms of the concrete results of this meeting we haven’t heard anything specific and there is a little bit of frustration here in Poland from politicians and some people that they’re not hearing more that they’re not hearing for
example that the United States is prepared to send fighter jets to Ukraine f-16s there were some Billboards here on the streets in Warsaw when Joe Biden arrived yesterday calling on him to do just that and that’s not a commitment that the United States has made yet if it is prepared to do that at all so the concrete
stuff is not coming out just yet but certainly the rhetoric the general mood music is strong but this part of NATO the whole of NATO and the United states included will continue in its unwavering support for Ukraine that’s the message that Joe Biden brought here and of course to Kiev which he also visited okay Sarah in Warsaw
thank you well I’m joined Now by Anthony King who is a professor of War studies at the University of Warwick welcome to you Professor what does Joe Biden’s visit say about the importance of this group of countries and their vulnerabilities well well it says they are vitally important and one of the interesting developments in NATO over the
last 20 years over 25 years since the end of the Cold War is that it’s become a very complicated uh large organization within with the expansion to the East and therefore the US has tended to use the NATO as a kind of framework I mean it’s still an absolutely valid political military Alliance but they’ve tended to use
it as a framework to build up coalitions of the willing to form bilateral relationships and trilateral relationships with individual countries and I think this Bucharest nine group should be seen as part of that one of the key U.S relationships in that area is with Poland the Poland have developed a very close military relationship with us and and
I think that the U.S is seeking to affirm and consolidate those that bilateral relationship with Poland and those neighboring countries and of course neighboring at the border of um uh Russia they are rightly to judge themselves at the most risk of any further conventional God forbid um very unlikely nuclear escalation yeah as Joe Biden’s second visit to
author in a year isn’t it he described the relationship between the two countries as critical but looking at the war one year on where do you see the state of it and well ultimately do you think it’s going to go over the next few months well well I’m afraid to say I I look rather pessimistically on it
and that’s why I think this meeting uh is very important because I think Shoring up the support of those exposed NATO countries is very important because I think the war is going to go on for a long time um I think the ukrainians as they’ve announced have to try and uh make another counter-offensive in the spring the
Russians are going to resist that very strongly I think the war will go on uh for a significant number of months I would say you know my estimate would be they’ll try they’ll fight the whole of this year they’ll probably fight the whole of next year as well and you’re looking at the end of next year or
2024 before either ukrainians are successful or both sides decide they just can’t tolerate any more fighting but I you know therefore this meeting is important because it’s a long process and it’s going to be a bitter process uh this War uh Professor we heard yesterday from President Putin and our correspondents saying he’s certainly not looking for an
off-ramp if anything there could be an escalation if that does come where do you see it coming well I mean I I obviously he was the the news that has got the most attention is in terms of his withdrawal from the start of agreement and that that is really politically significant I I still maintain uh like many
commentators that uh a nuclear escalation is highly highly unlikely I think the escalation over this year will be more civilian bombardments of um Ukrainian cities to try and uh destroy uh Ukrainian morale I think that will increase quite considerably I think the military efforts that we started to see ramp up over the last month in eastern Ukraine
will continue I think it’s possible some kind of um leveraging I mean there’s been a couple of cyber attacks on the west already was the Nordstrom 2 pipeline blown up by the Russians who knows but I I think some kind of leveraging uh you know so proliferation and an escalation in the conventional and then cyberspace and that
sort of odd sabotage area okay think that’s the most likely and I would have thought Putin would commit himself to that there’s nothing that stopped him before Professor Anthony King thank you for your analysis and thoughts thank you
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