If Russia prevails in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the country could find itself in a situation where Russia launches an attack on NATO, which in turn could trigger a global conflict with US troops. This is what US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday during a vote in Congress on additional aid to Ukraine.
Biden also attacked Republicans – who are reluctant to support Democrats because of disputes over the security of the US southern border – saying they were “ready to give (Russian president Vladimir) Putin the biggest gift he could hope for”.
#Biden to the US #Congress: «Make no mistake, today's vote is going to be long remembered. History is going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom's cause -because we can't let Putin win. Say it again. We can't let Putin win» So, #ArmUkraineNow & let #Ukraine win! pic.twitter.com/ZuSuhMyYmW
— Aline Le Bail-Kremer (@ALBK) December 6, 2023
The 81-year-old president added that Washington would prefer to avoid such a scenario because it could lead to “American troops fighting Russian troops”.
– If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there. He’s going to keep going. He’s made that pretty clear. If Putin attacks a NATO ally, and he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO member, and we’ve committed as a NATO member that we defend every inch of NATO territory, then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops, Biden said.
Russian ambassador: “Provocative rhetoric”
Moscow’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said that Biden’s statements about a potential conflict between Russia and NATO were mainly about scraping money for the US defense budget.
– Such horror stories are invented to justify to taxpayers and sober-minded political forces the huge costs of ‘containing’ the Russian Federation, Antonov said, arguing that the US has “lost touch with reality”.
– This kind of provocative rhetoric is unacceptable for a responsible nuclear state, the ambassador added.