President Joe Biden painted a grim picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions in Ukraine in a speech to the Business Roundtable’s CEO meeting Monday night, accusing the Kremlin of deploying fearsome weapons in its unprovoked invasion.
Biden warned that Putin’s back was up against the wall, leading the Russian strongman to contemplate desperate measures, such as new false flag attacks and the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
The president said his Russian counterpart was engaged in malign cyber activity in Ukraine and suggested Putin had used a hypersonic missile. “As you all know, it’s a consequential weapon. … It’s almost impossible to stop it,” he said. “There’s a reason they’re using it.”
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“Putin’s back is against the wall. … The more his back is against the wall, the greater severity of the tactics he may employ,” Biden added.
The president thanked the assembled CEOs for mostly voluntarily “winding down” their business operations in Russia as part of a broader campaign to raise the economic costs of the Ukraine invasion for Moscow.
While most of Biden’s comments concerned activities Russia would conduct in Ukraine, he did predict the Russians would wage cyberattacks on the United States. “It’s coming,” he said.
The White House had earlier in the day urged the private sector to take steps to protect themselves from such attacks. “My administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks,” he said in a statement.
“You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies on which Americans rely,” Biden continued. “We need everyone to do their part to meet one of the defining threats of our time — your vigilance and urgency today can prevent or mitigate attacks tomorrow.”
White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger told reporters at Monday’s press briefing that they did not know of anything imminent but had seen cause for concern. “There is no evidence of any specific cyberattack that we’re anticipating for,” she said. “There was some preparatory activity that we’re seeing, and that is what we shared in a classified context.”
“As the president has said, the United States is not seeking confrontation with Russia,” she added. “But he has also said that if Russia conducts disruptive cyberattacks against critical infrastructure, we will be prepared to respond.”
The Pentagon had also earlier in the day suggested that Russia’s use of a hypersonic missile in Ukraine was a “head-scratcher” that did not demonstrate a “whole lot of practicality.” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also indicated Sunday that Putin may be lashing out due to the invasion’s slow progress.
“I think, again, the reason that he’s resorting to using these types of weapons is because he’s trying to reestablish momentum. We’ve seen him attack towns and cities and civilians outright, and we expect to see that continue,” he said. “You kind of question why he would be doing this — is he running low on precision-guided munitions? Does he lack complete confidence in the ability of his troops to reestablish momentum?”
Biden hailed NATO’s unity against Russia since the war began. He told the audience that Putin “was counting on being able to split NATO. … I can assure you, NATO has never been stronger, more united, in its entire history than it is today, in large part because of Vladimir Putin.”
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There has been strong bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for Biden’s push to fortify Ukraine’s defenses and punish Russia for the invasions, though the White House hasn’t given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky everything he has asked for.
Biden will head to Brussels on Wednesday for a special meeting with NATO allies to discuss the war. He added Poland to his travel itinerary Monday.
