WASHINGTON – Pugnacious speeches Tuesday show the perilous relationship between the United States and Russia — which hold about 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons — continues to worsen after nearly a year of war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his state-of-the-nation address on Tuesday to tell Russians that the United States was working to destroy Russia, so he had decided to suspend a nuclear pact.
During his televised speech, Putin said Russia wasn’t “fighting the Ukrainian people” who he described as hostages of the “Kyiv regime” and “its Western masters” who he accused of occupying the country.
“Western elites aren’t trying to conceal their goals, to inflict a strategic defeat to Russia. They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation,” Putin said later adding, “It will be a matter of our country’s existence.”
US President Joe Biden, left, walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St. Michaels Golden-Domed Cathedral during an unannounced visit, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden visited wartime Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday and Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday for historic meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish President Andrzej Duda.
“A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to erase the people’s love for liberty. Brutality will never grind down the will to be free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never,” Biden said outside of The Royal Castle in Warsaw.
Biden and Duda plan to meet on Wednesday with the leaders of — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia — the Bucharest Nine, the eastern Europe members of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“President Putin is confronted with something today that he didn’t think was possible a year ago,” Biden said Tuesday. “The democracies of the world have grown stronger, not weaker. But the autocrats of the world have grown weaker, not stronger.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda, left, welcomes President Joe Biden at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, as they review the troops. Biden is visiting Poland a day after an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that comes days before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Meanwhile, Putin announced he had put an end to The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, also known as the New START Treaty.
“It’s they who have started the war, and we are using force to end it,” Putin said during his national address.
Putin’s foreign ministry later announced Russia was going to abide by the treaty’s caps and continue to exchange information about tests.
Former President Barack Obama’s administration started the 10-year New START Treaty in 2010. Former President Donald Trump suspended it. And in 2021, President Joe Biden’s administration signed the treaty’s five-year extension, but the Russians suspended it last year.
“The fact that Russia is stepping back from this deal is irresponsible,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gives his annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (Sergei Savostyanov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (Sputnik)
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Chinese leader Xi Jinping plans to meet with Putin soon.
On Monday, during a United Nations Security Council meeting, Russian and Chinese diplomats blamed the U.S.-South Korea military drills for causing North Korea to launch ballistic missiles on Saturday and Monday.
Before Putin sent troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Xi promised Putin a China-Russia partnership with “no limits.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Wang Yi, a Chinese foreign policy official, on Saturday in Germany, and on Sunday said the U.S. was concerned about China providing Russia with “lethal support” in Ukraine.
COMPLETE COVERAGE
More on Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to give his annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (Dmitry Astakhov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (Sputnik)
President Joe Biden to arrives to deliver a speech marking the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, at the Royal Castle Gardens in Warsaw. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Kyiv. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Ukrainian doctor Yurii Kuznetsov pauses in the destroyed surgery section of the hospital in Izium, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2023. Russian attacks have devastated Ukraine's health care system, raining down explosions upon hospitals and ambulances at a rate of nearly two a day for the past year, according to a study that attempted to document each strike. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Two Russian military members look at Kalashnikov rifles at a tent for Russian weapons manufacturers at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. Just outside of Abu Dhabi's biennial arms fair in a large tent, Russia offered weapons for sale Monday ranging from Kalashnikov assault rifles to missile systems despite facing sanctions from the West over its war on Ukraine. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang gestures to delegations as he arrives at the Lanting Forum on the Global Security Initiative: China's Proposal for Solving Security Challenges held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Qin Gang on Tuesday expressed concerns about the rising tensions in Ukraine and said China was ready to provide "Chinese wisdom" for the political settlement of the crisis through dialogues. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
FILE - A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. North Korea clams its nuclear weapons are combat ready, but some foreign governments and experts remain skeptical about how close the North has come in obtaining functioning nuclear arsenals. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.
