Biden Attends Gatherings with NATO, EU, G-7 Summit

President Biden said Russia should be expelled from the Group of 20 major economies and pledged the U.S. would take in up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine as he met Thursday with world leaders to discuss new sanctions and humanitarian aid in response to Moscow’s invasion.

The gatherings in Brussels came amid concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin could order the use of chemical or other unconventional weapons in Ukraine, a move Mr. Biden said would trigger a response from the U.S. and allies.

During a news conference, Mr. Biden stressed that NATO and European allies are united in their efforts. The U.S. announced a new round of sanctions against political figures, oligarchs and defense companies and $1 billion in humanitarian funding.

“The single most important thing is for us to stay unified and the world to continue to focus on what a brute this guy is,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Putin. “And all the innocent people’s lives that will be lost and ruined.”

Mr. Biden also said he thought Russia should be removed from the G-20, adding that the decision was up to the group. He said the issue was discussed Thursday among leaders. He said that he had raised the idea that if it wasn’t possible to remove Russia, Ukraine should be allowed to attend the meetings and observe. A G-20 summit is scheduled to be held in Bali, Indonesia, in the fall.

Russia has been excluded from the Group of Seven economically developed nations—previously the G-8—since the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Following his arrival in Brussels on Wednesday, Mr. Biden met Thursday with North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders, as well as with those of the G-7 and the European Union. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Brussels for the meetings.

Other countries also used the gathering to announce increased spending for humanitarian relief and other efforts. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who chaired the G-7 meeting, called for a global response to the humanitarian crisis and warned of food-supply disruptions beyond Ukraine because of the fighting.

Before the NATO gathering, Mr. Biden emphasized the need to strengthen the alliance’s eastern flank and said he welcomed pledges of increased military spending from various countries, officials said.

NATO leaders agreed to deploy more battle groups—collections of combat-ready forces—to the eastern flank, doubling their number to eight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed NATO leaders and asked them for further support, lamenting that answers haven’t always been forthcoming. “You have at least 20,000 tanks! Ukraine asked for a percent, one percent of all your tanks to be given or sold to us! But we do not have a clear answer yet. The worst thing during the war is not having clear answers to requests for help,” he said.

He didn’t revive his appeal for NATO membership or for a no-fly zone, according to senior Biden administration officials. Mr. Zelensky later also addressed the Group of Seven leaders.

With Russian forces facing unexpectedly strong and lethal opposition from Ukrainian forces, Western leaders say they are worried Mr. Putin might resort to using weapons of mass destruction. NATO officials are grappling with the question of what actions by Russia would count as red lines that could prompt more-direct involvement by the alliance. Officials said Russia’s potential use of chemical weapons was part of the discussion among NATO leaders.

“Allies agreed to supply equipment to help Ukraine protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after the summit. That includes equipment to detect such weapons and protect against them, as well as medical support and decontamination equipment, he said.

NATO, he said, also has activated chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense forces. “We are taking measures both to support Ukraine but also to defend ourselves,” he said.

Accidental release of chemical agents is also worrying some members. “We are concerned when Russian aggression forces are shelling chemical plants and similar facilities,” Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said ahead of the NATO summit. “This could trigger a disaster of large scale.”

Mr. Biden and others have been careful not to telegraph exactly what the U.S. and allies would do if Mr. Putin used chemical weapons. “The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use,” he said Thursday.

“Strategic ambiguity and discretion are more effective” than red lines, said French President Emmanuel Macron, explaining why he wouldn’t specify what Russian action might trigger a NATO response.

Mr. Stoltenberg, whose mandate was extended into 2023 amid the crisis, also affirmed the alliance’s open-door policy to welcome new members. Moscow has long bristled at the prospect of countries close to its borders joining the Western alliance.

Allies also brought up the need to call on China to not support Russia in its war against Ukraine, officials said. During his news conference, Mr. Biden said he had a straightforward conversation Friday with President Xi Jinping.

NATO has been walking a tightrope of providing Ukraine with weapons and other support, without being directly drawn into the fighting. Mr. Stoltenberg said direct NATO involvement, such as establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, could carry high risks for the war to broaden.

“I made no threats, but I pointed out the number of American and foreign corporations that have left Russia as a consequence of their barbaric behavior,” Mr. Biden said.

He said he reminded his counterpart of China’s interest in economic growth with Europe and the U.S. and said Mr. Xi would be “putting himself at significant jeopardy in those aims” if he were to back Russia.

The U.S. and EU have imposed the biggest coordinated package of sanctions ever levied against a major economy in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. on Thursday said it was imposing a new round of sanctions on more than 400 political figures, oligarchs and defense companies. According to U.S. officials, Mr. Biden’s new sanctions will cover more than 300 members of the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, as well as 17 board members of Russian financial institution Sovcombank; Herman Gref, a longtime Putin adviser who leads Sberbank; and Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko. The White House said 48 large Russian state-owned defense entities would be part of the new round of sanctions.

The G-7 and EU also announced a new initiative aimed at preventing Russia from evading sanctions already in place. U.S. officials said one example would be closing down ways for the Russian central bank to prop up the ruble.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Thursday said sanctions should also target Russia’s middle class amid signs popular support for Mr. Putin may be growing.

Mr. Biden will travel to Warsaw on Friday, and he is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting Saturday with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Mr. Duda recently pressed Vice President Kamala Harris during an hourlong meeting in Warsaw to expedite U.S. visas for Ukrainians in Poland hoping to join family members in the U.S.

Mr. Biden promised more than $1 billion in new funding to address humanitarian needs as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. The U.S. will also open its borders to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia’s attack, administration officials said. More than 3.6 million people have fled the fighting in Ukraine since the conflict began, most bound for Poland.

The U.S. is expected to make an announcement on Friday on enhancing European energy security and reducing the Continent’s dependence on Russian natural gas, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, NATO released estimates indicating Russia may have lost as much as a fifth of its combat forces in about a month of fighting in Ukraine. U.S. military analysts have estimated lower casualty figures.

Up to 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, wounded, taken prisoner or are missing in Ukraine, a senior NATO military official said. Russia may also have lost 10% of its equipment, impairing Moscow’s ability to maintain its pace of operations, another NATO official said. Moscow hasn’t released updated casualty figures since acknowledging on March 2 the deaths of 498 troops in Ukraine.

Arab Observer