WARSAW, Poland — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to pull out of the country’s sole remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the U.S. was a “big mistake,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday, the latest volley in a diplomatic showdown between Washington and Moscow as the president wraps up a four-day trip to the region.
Biden weighed in on the Kremlin’s announcement as he arrived at the presidential palace in Warsaw, where he met with leaders of nations from the NATO alliance’s eastern flank amid unease over Russia’s ongoing assault in Ukraine.
The Bucharest Nine — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia — was formed in the wake of Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Leaders worry a Russian victory in Ukraine could embolden Putin to invade other countries on the eastern edge of Europe.
