US President Joe Biden said on the 13th that “Russian President Vladimir Putin is already losing the war in Ukraine,” and “There is absolutely no chance that Putin (Russian President) will win the war.”
President Biden, who is visiting Helsinki, Finland, spoke at a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö right after the US-Five Northern European countries (Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) summit that day.
President Biden emphasized, “Given Russia’s resources and capabilities, it cannot sustain a war permanently,” and nailed it, saying, “I don’t think Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will last for many years.”
President Biden then diagnosed that President Putin could stop the war at any time.
“Putin (Russian President) will decide that it is not in Russia’s interest to continue the war, whether for economic or political reasons or whatever,” he said. “He can end the war even tomorrow.”
“I can’t predict exactly what’s going to happen,” he said, “what kind of agreement will ultimately be reached depends on Putin and what he decides to do.”
“My hope and expectation is that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will make progress and at some point result in negotiations[with Russia],” he said.
◼︎ “Nuclear weapons will not be used”
“I do not foresee that Putin will use nuclear weapons,” he said.
“Not just the West, but China and everywhere else in the world have been telling us not to do that,” he added.
In addition, President Biden said, following Finland’s formal membership in NATO in April, if Sweden joins soon, “the world will be safer and less likely to break out in war.”
Sweden, which submitted an application to join NATO together with Finland in May last year, failed to become a member due to Turkey’s opposition.
Then, on the 10th, just before the opening of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Türkiye withdrew his opposition, effectively opening the way to becoming NATO’s 32nd member state.
See also: Biden “Welcomes Sweden to the 32nd NATO Alliance”…withdrawal of anti-Turkeye stance
◼︎ “Ukraine will also join NATO someday…guaranteed”
At a conference on the 13th, President Biden said, “NATO is working with a serious attitude to protect all (members’) territories,” and emphasized that “we will further contribute to the security of all NATO alliances.”
NATO accession, which Ukraine has hoped for, is “absolutely guaranteed by me,” he said.
President Biden repeatedly emphasized that “Ukraine will join NATO,” and “the question is when it will be.”
However, it was nailed down that “no country can join NATO during a war.”
At the NATO summit on the 11th and 12th, it was decided to confirm the principles of Ukraine’s joining NATO and proceed with the expedited procedure, but neither an official invitation nor a related timetable was presented.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky protested.
See also: Biden-NATO Secretary General agrees to Ukraine’s ‘future member’ proposal…Criticism of Zelensky “absurd”
Meanwhile, President Biden also said at a conference on the same day (13th) that he was considering exchanging prisoners for the release of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gersikovic, an American journalist who was arrested on suspicion of espionage in March and detained by Russian authorities.
See also: Russian ‘espionage charges’ American journalist denied release… Zelensky-Putin visits battle site ‘reciprocal fire’
◼︎ Warning of possible poisoning of Prigogine
President Biden joked about the founder of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary company’Wagner Group’, who withdrew after an armed rebellion in Russia on the 24th of last month, saying, “If I were him, I would be careful what I eat,” saying that Russian President Putin could not attempt an assassination attempt. He implicitly hinted that there was.
“We’re not even sure where he is or what his relationship is,” he said. “God only knows what will happen to him.”
The founder of Prigozhin was initially announced to have fled to Belarus after the attempted insurrection, but returned to Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
Later, the Kremlin made public the fact of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and founder Prigozhin.
See also: “Putin and Prigozhin meet five days after last month’s uprising”
◼︎ Putin “Suggesting joining the regular army to the Wagner group”
President Putin himself explained the contents of the conversation that took place at the meeting at the time.
President Putin said in an interview with Kommersant on the 13th that he proposed joining the regular army last month when he met with founder Yevgeny Prigozin and 35 mercenaries from Wagner.
“Many mercenaries nodded to my proposal, but Prigozhin refused,” Putin added.
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At the same time, President Putin added that “the organization of the militia is illegal under the current Russian law” and that he was trying to pave the way for them to operate legally.
“It is up to the Russian parliament and government to discuss the legal framework,” he said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on the 12th that it had received thousands of tons of weapons, including hundreds of tanks and 2,500 tons of ammunition, from the Wagner group.
The US government judged that the Wagner group was not doing much in the recent war in Ukraine.
This is VOA News Jongsu Oh.
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2023-07-14 09:17:12
