Russian invasion of Ukraine is a global issue, says Biden
U.S. President Joe Biden said yesterday that the crisis in Ukraine was a global issue which heightened the importance of maintaining international order, territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Biden’s comments were delivered at the opening of the “Quad” meeting of Indo-Pacific leaders in Tokyo.
“This is more than just a European issue. It’s a global issue,” Biden said of the crisis in Ukraine at the Quad meeting of the United States, Japan, India and Australia.
Biden stressed Washington would stand with its allies and push for a free and open IndoPacific region.
“International law, human rights must always be defended regardless of where they’re violated in the world,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told global business leaders in Davos yesterday that the world must increase sanctions against Russia to deter other countries from using “brute force” to achieve their aims.
The European Union (EU) will likely agree on an embargo on Russian oil imports “within days”, its biggest member Germany has said, as Moscow said its economic ties with China would grow amid its isolation by the West over the Ukraine conflict.
Many of the EU’s 27 member states are heavily reliant on Russian energy, prompting criticism from Kyiv that the bloc has not moved quickly enough to halt supplies.
Hungary is demanding energy investment before it agrees to an embargo, clashing with EU states pushing for swift approval. The EU has offered up to 2 billion euros ($2.14 billion) to central and eastern nations lacking nonRussian supply.
“We will reach a breakthrough within days,” Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, told broadcaster ZDF.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin would focus on developing ties with China as economic links with the United States and Europe were cut.
“If they (the West) want to offer something in terms of resuming relations, then we will seriously consider whether we will need it or not,” he said in a speech, according to a transcript on the foreign ministry’s website.
“Now that the West has taken a ‘dictator’s position’, our economic ties with China will grow even faster.”
Russia’s three-month long invasion, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has seen over 6.5 million people flee abroad, turned entire cities into rubble, and prompted the unprecedented imposition of Western sanctions on Russia.
Zelenskiy yesterday called on Ukraine’s allies to pressure Moscow into a prisoner exchange.
“The exchange of people - this is a humanitarian matter today and a very political decision that depends on the support of many states,” Zelenskiy said in a question-and-answer video link with audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos.