President Biden privately blamed former President Barack Obama for the failures that led to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the biggest European conflict since World War II, a new book claims.
“They screwed up in 2014,” according to Bob Woodward’s upcoming book “War,” previewed by CNN. It is said that he confessed to this.
“That’s why we’re here,” the 81-year-old added. “We messed it up. Mr. Barak never took (Russian President Vladimir) Putin seriously."
“We did nothing. We gave President Putin permission to continue!” the president continued. “Well, I’m revoking his license!”
Barack Obama, who wanted to soften relations with Vladimir Putin, has since publicly cited Russia as a source of information. AFP (via Getty Images)
In 2014, the Kremlin annexed Crimea after ousting pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych during the Revolution of Dignity.
Russia then flooded Crimea with migrants and maintained it despite Ukraine’s sabotage, including water restrictions.
During that invasion, Obama, now 63, imposed sanctions on Russia and took steps to help strengthen Ukraine’s military.
But he stopped short of committing lethal military weapons to the besieged country, as former President Donald Trump would later do.
Between 2014 and the Russian invasion in February 2022, tensions between the two neighbors exploded, with Ukraine embroiled in a war with pro-Russian factions in the Donbas region, which President Putin used as an excuse to invade. did.
President Biden has been a strong advocate of sending military aid to Ukraine. AFP (via Getty Images)
Obama was trying to ease relations with Russia and was infamously working on a “reset” with Moscow. The 44th president particularly sought to take advantage of Putin’s brief absence from office from 2008 to 2012.
In 2012, Democrats got into a heated microphone conversation with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, promising to be more “flexible” on the topic of missile defense after that year’s election.
Later that year, Obama downplayed the threat Russia posed to the United States in a debate with then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
An uncomfortable-looking Volodymyr Zelensky met with Donald Trump in New York last month. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/AFP (via Getty Images)
“The Cold War is over for 20 years, so the 1980s are now calling for a return to foreign policy,” President Obama chided at the time.
After stepping down as vice president in 2017, Biden boasted that he had forced Ukrainian authorities to fire Kiev Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in exchange for $1 billion in aid from the United States.
Shokin, 71, later claimed that Hunter Biden was preparing to investigate Burisma Holdings, a natural gas company where he was a director at the time.
These plots later became the subject of investigations by congressional Republicans.
Despite appearing to get along well in public, there are numerous reports that there was occasional friction between President Biden and former President Barack Obama. AFP via Getty Images “War” will tell the story of recent upheaval in American politics. AP
Another revelation from Woodward’s book is that Biden was furious with Attorney General Merrick Garland for the Justice Department’s pursuit of indicting his eldest son, Hunter Biden, 54.
“I shouldn’t have chosen Garland,” the president told his confidants, Woodward said. “This will never go away.”
Hunter Biden, 54, was found guilty by a jury on federal firearms charges. In September, he pleaded guilty to defrauding Uncle Sam of $1.4 million in taxes.
The president has publicly stated that he will not forgive his son.
“War” is scheduled to hit bookshelves on October 15th.
