Russia blames Biden for invading Ukraine after Abu Dhabi talks

At the talks in Abu Dhabi, the Russian delegation led by Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky said the 2022 invasion of Ukraine began because of Joe Biden’s inaction. According to an American outlet, the main topic of the meeting was a new security architecture between Europe and Russia.

The Russian side claims Biden never replied to a letter Moscow sent in December 2021, in which it set out its security demands. The claim plays into Donald Trump’s argument that there would have been no war had he been president at the time. But it does not match the facts.

What Moscow was actually told

According to a German broadcaster, on January 26, 2022, a month before the invasion, the US and NATO handed Russia formal written answers to its proposals. Washington offered talks on arms control but rejected Moscow’s main demand: to permanently close the door to NATO for Ukraine and pull the alliance’s forces back to its 1997 borders. That would have affected the Czech Republic too, which joined NATO in 1999.

Now, according to the American outlet, the US is willing in some form to discuss Russian demands as part of a broader deal to end the war. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, joined by General Alexus Grynkewich, commander of US forces in Europe, proposed that Russia draft a new proposal. It should reflect Moscow’s concerns as well as the “symmetrical steps” it is willing to take to de-escalate and to assure Europe that it will not attack in the future.

Europe at the negotiating table

Kushner and Witkoff also told the Russian side that if it wants a serious discussion about security in Europe, it must agree to European representatives taking part in future peace talks. “We told the Russians they have their wishes and concerns, but they need to put forward other proposals and steps toward de-escalation if they want Europe to be able to view them favorably,” Kushner said.

Moscow is not interested in European participation. After the meeting, Medinsky accused the leadership of a number of European countries of “collectively deceiving the Ukrainian people” and contributing to the mass deaths of civilians. “That is why I don’t understand what there is to negotiate with them,” he said. Still, Russia is interested in a broader security agreement with Europe as part of a deal to end the war. “An abscess has simply burst in Ukraine. The whole organism needs treating – a plaster won’t be enough here,” Medinsky added.

The Trump administration has its own order of priorities: according to a source familiar with the White House’s thinking, ending the war in Ukraine takes clear priority. Much depends on what the US negotiators, who are meeting Putin in Moscow, bring back on Thursday, and on what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom they will meet in Dublin, is prepared to accept.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz