BIDEN DEPLOYS AIDES TO BOLSTER UKRAINE
A week after President Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine to pledge American support in the fight to repel Russia, he has dispatched two senior Cabinet members to redouble efforts to prop up the Ukrainian economy and to try to curb the Kremlin’s ability to skirt Western sanctions.
The visits, by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to the capital, Kyiv, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken into the heart of what Moscow considers its sphere of influence in Central Asia, underscore the Biden administration’s commitment to blocking Moscow’s ambitions in Ukraine as the war enters its second year.
The diplomatic moves by the Biden administration come as Russian President Vladimir Putin has spent the past year seeking to reinforce Russia’s influence in Central Asia and to deepen ties with China, which the United States has said is preparing to provide more overt assistance to Moscow.
Blinken was to arrive today in Kazakhstan to urge senior Central Asian officials from the former Soviet republics convening there to maintain their independence from Russia and China and not to be complicit in Moscow’s attempts to evade sanctions.
China is exerting its own diplomatic influence, as it prepares to welcome Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Russia, for a three-day visit starting today, during which he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
U.S. officials say they are cleareyed about their goals in Central Asia. They do not believe that many of the nations that have remained neutral in the war will make bold statements soon against Russia, since they have decadeslong ties, including military relations, to Moscow.
And none of the Central Asian nations voted “yes” on the United Nations resolution last week calling for
Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and agree to a lasting peace recognizing Ukraine’s full sovereignty.
“Our main goal is to show that the United States is a reliable partner, and we see the difficulties that these economies are facing — high food prices, high fuel prices, high unemployment, difficulty in exporting their goods, slow post-COVID recovery and a large influx of migrants from Russia,” Donald Lu, U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asia and Central Asia, said at a news briefing Friday.
For Yellen, Monday’s unannounced trip to Kyiv highlighted how intertwined national security and economic security have become.
As treasury secretary, Yellen — an economist and former Federal Reserve chair — has been involved in
devising the sanctions that the United States has imposed on Russia in the past year to put pressure on its economy. She has also designed the price cap that the United States and its allies in the Group of 7 nations enacted to limit the price at which Russian oil can be sold.
Arriving on an overnight train from Poland as air raid sirens blared — just as Biden did only days ago — Yellen crisscrossed Kyiv, meeting with the country’s top officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; honoring those who had been killed in the conflict; and publicly making the case that the billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money were being well spent.
“We welcome President Zelenskyy’s ardent commitment to handling these funds in the ‘most responsible way,’ ” Yellen said, quoting the Ukrainian leader’s words to Congress in December. “Transparency and
accountability will become even more important as Ukraine rebuilds its infrastructure and recovers from the impacts of the war.”
Yellen announced the transfer of $1.25 billion in economic aid to Ukraine — money to help finance schools, firefighters and doctors. It is the first installment of about $10 billion that the United States is providing to Kyiv this year as part of a $45 billion aid package approved by Congress in December.
She vowed that “America will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” making the case that buttressing the Ukrainian economy is equally as important as fortifying the nation’s military.
After she met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at his gilded but barricaded offices, where sandbags filled the windows and doorways, Yellen said, “We both know that effective military resistance on the front lines of this
fight requires a functioning economy and government.”
For Ukraine, the funds cannot come quickly enough.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that the country is facing a monthly budget shortfall of about $5 billion per month. The United States has been urging its European allies to provide more aid and is encouraging the IMF to approve a full loan package for Ukraine.
Although the Biden administration’s commitment to Ukraine appears to be unwavering, there is growing political resistance from Republicans, who are increasingly arguing that the amounts of aid going to Ukraine are risking becoming unaffordable.
Yellen’s visit was intended to counter that sentiment a month after Zelenskyy vowed to take action against corruption in the wake of an official’s dismissal for embezzlement.
Even as Yellen arrived to
Ukraine, the Biden administration was extending its effort to head off Moscow’s own attempts to seek economic aid and other support abroad. U.S. officials have noted the skeptical remarks some top Central Asian officials, including those in Kazakhstan, have made about Putin and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, another former Soviet republic.
As U.S. officials have made frequent visits to Ukraine in recent months, the threat of violence, even far from the front, remains constant.
Yellen traveled in a police-escorted motorcade, weaving through checkpoints, past concrete blast walls and iron hedgehogs erected to stop Russian tanks. The trenches on the sides of the roads in some places were a reminder of the danger that remained.
During Yellen’s visit, she spoke at Obolon School No. 168, which was severely damaged during Russia’s initial onslaught last year. The school, where the salaries of teachers, administrators and support staff were directly reimbursed by U.S. budget support, has been rebuilt in the past year.
Yellen also stopped at the square in front of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery to lay a wreath in memory of those who died and to observe a display of destroyed Russian tanks and armored vehicles.
Yellen made clear that American aid to Ukraine would keep flowing and that the United States would redouble its efforts against the Russian economy.
“We will continue to work with our international coalition to provide military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine,” Yellen said. “And we will continue to impose severe costs on the Kremlin for its illegal war.”