The ex-White House aide has argued that Washington’s policies and rhetoric have only emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks at a Senate briefing last March in Washington. © Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
US President Joe Biden’s efforts to punish Moscow over the Ukraine crisis have failed, and his rhetoric and weak leadership have only encouraged more aggression by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, ex-White House aide John Bolton has claimed.
Bolton made his comments in a NewsNation interview on Friday, after Biden and other US officials rebuked President Putin over the death of opposition politician Alexey Navalny in a Siberian penal colony. The former US national security advisor argued that contrary to statements by the Biden administration, Navalny’s death does not demonstrate weakness in Putin’s government.
“Sad to say, it demonstrates the opposite,” Bolton said. “He thought he could do this without any significant domestic, Russian political consequences, and he could do it without any real international consequences, either. I think Biden, in the statement you just ran, helps show that that’s true.”
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A US-led sanctions campaign in response to Moscow’s military offensive against Ukraine has failed to cripple the Russian economy, Bolton said. “They’ve largely recovered,” he said. “At the same time, the Ukrainian economy is still being ground into the dust.”
Referring to Russian casualties in the Ukraine conflict, Bolton said, “This is the way the Russians fight. So, if Biden’s rhetoric just continues at this level, it encourages Russia. It’s part of the proof that they can commit this kind of murder and get away with it.”
Putin and other foreign leaders have sized up Biden, and they do not take him seriously, Bolton claimed. Those assessments, as well as the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, contributed to Russia’s decision to launch its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, he said.
“This is a serious problem for the United States, not just in the case of dealing with Russia, but in dealing with China, North Korea, Iran,” Bolton said. He added that Biden has not acted more decisively in Ukraine or the Middle East because he fears triggering a wider war. “I’m afraid that not only does Biden not have the credibility he started with, but people have read him correctly. This is a weak presidency.”
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Bolton served as national security advisor under President Donald Trump, who is polling as the leading Republican contender to challenge Biden in this year’s US election. The ex-aide argued that either candidate would be dangerous for American national security. “Neither one of them is acceptable as president,” he said.