Biden arrives in Brussels to participate in Western summits on Ukraine
Brussels, Mar 23 (EFE).- President Joe Biden arrived on Wednesday in Brussels, where on Thursday he will participate in three summits to strengthen the Western allies’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden landed at the Belgian capital’s international airport at 9:04 pm to begin his third visit to Europe in less than a year, a tour that will also take him on Friday to Poland, the country that has been most affected by the massive flow of refugees resulting from the war across the border in Ukraine.
Upon his arrival, the US leader exchanged brief greetings with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and with the three US ambassadors stationed in Brussels before heading to his hotel.
On Thursday, Biden will take part in an extraordinary summit of NATO leaders and later in the European Union and G7 summits in the city, all of which are being held to consolidate the stances of the US and its allies against the invasion of Ukraine launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In coordination with Washington’s European allies, Biden on Thursday will announce additional sanctions on Russian oligarchs and politicians and will agree with the G7 on an initiative to coordinate the implementation of all the restrictions imposed on Moscow and to make more difficult any attempt to get around them, the White House said.
Among others, the new sanctions will hit more than 300 members of the Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The president is also scheduled to promise more humanitarian aid to Ukraine and on Friday he will make a joint announcement with his European allies about how to ensure that Europe reduces its dependence on Russian natural gas, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said.
Biden “will announce further American contributions to a coordinated humanitarian response to ease the suffering of civilians inside Ukraine and to respond to the growing flow of refugees,” said Sullivan on Tuesday, adding to journalists the next day that the US will seek ways to increase the supply of liquified natural gas to Europe within the next few months.
Biden will travel to Warsaw on Friday to pursue an agenda that has still not been completely worked out, a situation that has sparked speculation – unconfirmed by the White House – that he could approach Poland’s border with Ukraine and meet with refugees there who have fled the war zone in their homeland.
Sullivan said on Tuesday that Biden will meet with “US troops” who are helping defend NATO territory,” as well as with “experts” on the humanitarian aid response in the region.
On Saturday, before returning to Washington, Biden will meet in Warsaw with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, and later he will deliver a speech about the united efforts by the free world to “defend the people of Ukraine” and promote a world founded on “democratic principles,” the White House said.
EFE
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