On their last days in office, U.S. President Barack Obama and other top officials used their final appearances to denounce Russia as a threat to the global international order and to urge continued Western support for Ukraine.
This 11th-hour offensive signaled a belated recognition from Obama that he had underestimated the threat posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. As he exits the White House, his final public statements show he has moved closer to the view of his defeated 2012 rival for the presidency, Mitt Romney, who called Russia “our number one geopolitical foe.” At the time, Obama belittled Romney’s view, but no more.
These reassuring messages from the outgoing Democratic administation are welcomed in Ukraine, which has been fighting a Kremlin-instigated war for three years in the eastern Donbas and whose Crimean peninsula continues to be occupied by Russia.
But Ukraine’s world could be rocked by incoming President Donald Trump, who lavishes praise on Putin, ignores human rights abuses and has said little about Ukraine since his election on Nov. 8. Some fear Trump will strike a bargain with Putin that sells out Ukraine’s interests, while others believe that Ukraine has strong bipartisan support in the United States.
‘A telling year’ ahead
The Obama administration’s parting shots at Russia began on Jan. 16, when Vice President Joe Biden used his last official foreign trip to come to Kyiv before ending the journey at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and then returning to Washington, D.C.
At the Presidential Administration, standing next to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Biden said: “You’re fighting both against the cancer of corruption, which continues to eat away at Ukraine’s democracy within, and the unrelenting aggression of the Kremlin.”
But Biden also had a more far-reaching message to deliver.
“It’s not just about Ukraine,” he said. “It’s about the future we have long sought of a Europe whole, free, and at peace – something that is in the vital national interest of both the United States and all Europeans.”
Poroshenko, in turn, offered thanks for American support since the EuroMaidan Revolution which toppled Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych. He also said he is looking forward to continuity from the new U.S. administration and stated his hope that “the Ukrainian question will unite the whole American political community and remain one of its top priorities.”
Biden also sought to offer reassurance.
“If you keep doing the hard work and making the difficult choices to put Ukraine first,” he said, “I promise you the American people will stand with you. This next year is going to be a very, very telling year-a very telling year.”
Faith in democracy
Appearing at the World Economic Forum on Jan. 18 after leaving Ukraine, Biden went even further, accusing Russia of leading a movement “to collapse the liberal international order.”
Citing the Kremlin’s deployment of troops in Ukraine as just one example, he said Moscow is seeking “a return to a world where the strong impose their will through military might, corruption or criminality while weaker neighbors fall in line.”
A precursor to those comments had come on Jan. 17 from Samantha Power, Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations. In what was also her final public appearance in office, she gave a speech at Washington, D.C.-based think tank The Atlantic Council.
“Russia’s actions are not standing up a new world order,” she stated. “They are tearing down the one that exists and this is what we are fighting against. Having defeated the forces of fascism and communism, we now confront the forces of authoritarianism and nihilism.”
Power urged more cooperation between Democrats and Republicans to “strengthen the resilience” of the American system against attempts by the Kremlin to undermine it.
She suggested hacking attributed to Russia during the recent U.S. presidential election was based on the goals of “denigrating one candidate and helping the other candidate.” But she rejected claims that Trump’s victory had motivated the Obama White House’s sudden offensive against Moscow.
“I know that some have said that this focus on Russia that we are bringing is simply the party that lost the recent presidential election being sore losers,” Power said. “But it should worry every American that a foreign government interfered in our democratic process. It’s not about the leader we chose, it’s about who gets to chose. That privilege should belong only to Americans.”
The art of the deal
During his address at the World Economic Forum, Biden said that with many countries in Europe — among them France, Germany and Holland — set to hold elections this year, “we should expect further attempts by Russia to meddle in the democratic process.”
With such warnings the outgoing Democrats have sought to emphasize that America under a Republican presidency must continue the policy of punishing Russia for violating the established rules of international order.
But it is far from clear that Trump shares this view.
In an interview conducted jointly by Germany’s Bild newspaper and The London Times published on Jan. 16, he hinted at a deal with Moscow over reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. He made no mention of Ukraine’s interests.
“They have sanctions on Russia — let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,” he said. “For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that’s part of it. I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit.”
Standing up for values
In his last White House press conference as president on Jan. 18, Obama warned against confusing the imposition of sanctions “with a whole set of other issues.” He said there should be only one scenario which would lead to their cancellation: an end to the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
“Russia continues to occupy Ukrainian territory and meddle in Ukrainian affairs and support military surrogates who have violated basic international law and international norms,” he told reporters. “What I’ve said to the Russians is, as soon as you stop doing that the sanctions will be removed.”
