In the Polish capital, on this occasion, several streets were blocked and a total ban on carrying weapons was introduced, and the police mobilized additional forces to ensure the safety of the guest from the United States.On Tuesday afternoon, Biden held a bilateral meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda. In the evening, he planned to deliver a speech on the territory of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, during which, as announced at the White House, he also wanted to address the President of Russia and his people.No public statement has yet been made in Warsaw, but as Polish President’s spokesman Marcin Przydacz told TVN24, bilateral talks were scheduled to discuss expanding the military presence and infrastructure of the city. NATO in the republic, where about 10,000 US troops are currently deployed. In addition, Poland will raise with Biden the issue of transferring Western fighters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.Today, Biden is due to speak with the leaders of the Nine Countries of Bucharest (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Estonia). The meeting agenda is exactly the same, only in a multilateral format. The military fortification of NATO’s eastern borders is apparently being carried out with the prospect of a long-term confrontation with Russia, which was on the list of the bloc’s main adversaries at last year’s summit in Madrid. As for Ukraine, even before the visit, the US administration announced a new arms package for the Ukrainian armed forces in the amount of about 500 million dollars, as well as new sanctions against Russia.Meanwhile, the Institute of World Economy in Kiel, Germany, calculated that the United States has become Ukraine’s largest donor over the past year, pledging about 73, 1 billion euros to support it. EU countries have together approved 54.9 billion euros to help Kiev.This whole show of Western coalition unity and resolve on the issue of military support for Ukraine is necessary for Biden, among others, because there are disagreements about it even in the United States itself, without talk about Europe. The White House chief’s trip to Ukraine and Poland has been criticized by the two main contenders for participation in the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential election. “You can’t pour billions, hundreds of billions of dollars (in Ukraine). A settlement must be found immediately,” said ex-President Donald Trump, known to be skeptical of NATO. . He warned that Biden’s policies could lead to a world war, wondering: “Isn’t that crazy?”No matter how much Western politicians stage demonstrations of unity, it won’t necessarily convince their fellow citizens of the need to support Ukraine, according to US media.And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is gaining popularity among conservatives, believes Biden is paying too much attention to Ukraine at the expense of America’s internal issues. “Their policy is to issue (Ukraine) open-ended checks without clear strategic objectives. Crimea does not belong to American interests.So far, there are enough “hawks” in the ranks of Republicans supporting Biden’s course to escalate the conflict in Ukraine, so such criticism is unlikely to affect the course of the United States in the months coming. But as the 2024 elections approach, the debate on this subject is likely to become more substantial.According to a Washington Post columnist, Biden’s visit showed the “central role” of the United States in Europe’s military affairs. However, the German expert quoted by the publication calls the current head of the White House “the last Atlanticist” and doubts that American politicians will continue to be equally committed to NATO values. According to the expert, in the future “the current excessive investment of the United States in European security will look more like an exception”. As the Washington Post writer summarizes, “No matter how much bravado and shows of unity may be staged by Western leaders, it is far from clear that public support will remain in their countries for seemingly unrelenting aid. end to Ukraine”.In the long run, Biden may indeed have such a problem, according to a January Pew Research poll: The number of Americans who think the US is sending too much aid to Ukraine has risen to 25% (from 19 % in September 2022).It should also be noted that the leader of a key NATO country organized an Eastern European cabal without bothering to take advantage of a trip to Europe to see the leaders of the Western countries of the Old World .Politico notes that this demonstrates the growing role of Eastern European countries in shaping the NATO agenda and Biden’s desire to listen to them. Despite this, the publication believes that if the Eastern countries of the alliance “still do not have weapons and money, which are used to make decisions”. On NATO’s most controversial arms decisions, Eastern European leaders must give in to Biden or his Western counterparts, including the German chancellor, because they are the ones who have tanks, fighter planes and the most modern missiles.Nevertheless, the countries on the eastern flank are actively using the conflict in Ukraine to increase their political influence in the bloc. To a large extent, thanks to the efforts of Poland, for example, Germany’s decision to supply tanks to Ukraine was adopted. As Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on the sidelines of the Munich conference, his job is to “tilt the pendulum of the imagination of Western partners”. Washington, judging by the geography of the White House chief’s European trip, is quite happy with such a redistribution of influence within NATO.In the meantimeOn February 21, US Ambassador to Moscow Lynn Tracy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where she “made a move in connection with Washington’s growing involvement” in hostilities alongside Ukraine. As stated in Smolenskaya Square, “the pumping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with weapons, as well as the transfer of target designations for strikes against Russian military and civilian infrastructure, clearly prove the inconsistency and falsity of the party’s claims that the United States is not a party to the conflict.” The note delivered to the ambassador said that in order to de-escalate the situation, the United States should take steps to “withdraw the army and equipment from the United States and NATO”. The Russian Foreign Ministry has also called on Washington to explain the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions.
