Putin Blames Western Countries As Biden Praises NATO For Backing Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has sharpened his vitriol towards the West as President Joe Biden, fresh from a visit to Kyiv, praised Western democracy for standing up to naked Russian aggression.
In a week heavy with events ahead of Friday’s anniversary of Russia’s Ukraine invasion, Mr Putin spoke first.
The West had enabled Nazi Germany, he claimed, and had turned Ukraine into a neo-Nazi regime that was “anti-Russia”.
Hours later Mr Biden said autocrats understood only one word: “No, no, no!”
Russia’s president did announce he was suspending the New Start nuclear arms control treaty signed with the US in 2010. The deal caps nuclear warhead numbers and Nato, and UK leaders have urged him to reconsider.
He also declared he had put new ground-based systems on combat duty. He had already threatened last year to use “all means at our disposal” to protect Russia and territory it has seized in Ukraine.
