Biden hails Putin for strengthening Nato's alliance and resolve
US President Joe Biden credited Russian President Vladimir Putin for "the Nato-isation of Finland" as he and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated their support on Wednesday for Ukraine at a meeting of Nato's easternmost members.
The two leaders made their remarks in Warsaw at a gathering of the Bucharest Nine, or "B9" - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations nearest to Russia - as they faced the prospect of a protracted war against Ukraine, with Stoltenberg emphasising the need to "break the cycle of Russian aggression".
"I said you keep asking for the Finland-isation of Nato, you're going to get the Nato-isation of Finland," Biden said, referring to Putin.
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"Well, it happened. Not only are we as strong as we were, we're stronger."
"As Nato's eastern flank, you're the front lines of our collective defence 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," Biden added, vowing to "defend literally every inch of Nato".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced this week that Ankara was ready to resume negotiations on Finland's and Sweden's entry into the defence alliance after suspending them last month. Erdogan had claimed that Finland was harbouring militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist group.
Hungary, the only other Nato member to oppose Stockholm's and Helsinki's applications, could ratify their membership bids early next month, Hungarian media reported on Tuesday.
In addition to Poland and Hungary, B9 nations include the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Biden was in Warsaw after his surprise trip to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a week in which China's support for Russia became more apparent after reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping planned to visit Putin in Moscow.
These developments, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's participation in the Munich Security Conference in Germany, have pushed the divide between Washington and its allies on one side and China and Russia on the other further into what many analysts are calling a new phase of great-power competition.
Stoltenberg spoke in similar terms, warning that sustained support for Ukraine was necessary "to ensure that history does not repeat itself".
"President Putin is not preparing for peace," he said. "On the contrary, he is preparing for more war ... We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security, we must break the cycle of Russian aggression."
"Allies have never been more united," Stoltenberg added. "We will protect every inch of allied territory based on our Article 5 commitment", which authorises Nato to come to the defence of any member facing military attack.
Underscoring the increasing antagonism between Western countries and a China-Russia relationship that has remained strong throughout the Kremlin's year-long war in Ukraine, Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi told Putin during a visit to Moscow that bilateral relations have "withstood pressure" and would not be swayed by any "third party".
Wang, the most senior Chinese official to visit Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago, travelled there after participating in the Munich Security Conference, where he had a much more contentious meeting with Blinken.
The Wang-Blinken meeting was marked by sharply differing positions over Biden's decision to shoot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over US territory, an incident that has strained bilateral ties further.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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