Biden clarifies stance on a Russian incursion in Ukraine: ‘Russia will pay a heavy price’ if units move across Ukrainian border
By Betsy Klein, CNN
President Joe Biden on Thursday sought to clarify his stance on a potential Russian incursion in Ukraine, cleaning up remarks from the prior day’s news conference during which he suggested a “minor incursion” by Russia would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.
“I’ve been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding. If any — any — assembled Russian units move across Ukrainian border, that is an invasion. But it will be met with severe and coordinated economic response that I’ve discussed in detail with our allies, as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin,” Biden said at the top of an event aimed at promoting the bipartisan infrastructure package passed last year.
If Putin chooses to invade, Biden added, “Russia will pay a heavy price.”
During the news conference Wednesday, the President predicted Putin would “move in” to Ukraine — though he speculated that the Russian leader is still not clear on what he’s going to do. In a comment that sent shockwaves across Europe, Biden then alluded to disunity among US allies about how to respond to anything less than a full invasion.
“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do,” Biden told reporters at an East Room news conference. “But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.”
Later, asked to clarify what he meant by “minor incursion,” Biden said he drew the line at “Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters.”
“I think that changes everything,” the President said. “But it depends on what he does, to what extent we’ll get total unity on the NATO front.”
“It’s very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page. That’s what I’m spending a lot of time doing, and there are differences,” he went on. “There are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens.”
As he sought to clean up his previous remarks, Biden noted that Russia has a “long history” of using measures other than overt military action to carry out aggression, including paramilitary tactics, so-called gray zone attacks, attacks by Russian soldiers not in uniform, little green men and cyberattacks.
“We have to be ready to respond to these as well and decisively,” Biden said, echoing comments made late Wednesday and earlier Thursday by his press secretary Jen Psaki and Vice President Kamala Harris.
He noted that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday that he is “confident of our support and resolve and he has a right to be.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
