Vice President Kamala Harris is set to meet with leaders in Poland and Romania this week following a rare bout of disharmony between Warsaw and Washington over the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Senior White House officials said Harris’s trip aims to reinforce the trans-Atlantic alliance during a delicate situation after Poland stunned the Biden administration with a surprise proposal Tuesday to send 28 MiG-29 fighter planes to a U.S. base in Germany for transfer to Ukraine. The White House rejected the offer by Polish leaders, and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the plan “raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance.”
Recommended Stories
“This trip to the eastern flank is further support to our allies and is also an extremely important opportunity to collaborate with them on next steps in responding to Russian aggression,” a senior administration official told reporters in a call previewing the visit.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES RUSSIAN OIL BAN, BLAMES PUTIN FOR SURGING PRICES
Harris is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings Thursday with Polish President Andrzej Duda, as well as with the Polish prime minister, raising the prospect of an awkward exchange.
Officials declined to detail any plans to discuss the sudden bout of disarray over the fighter planes. Neither the United States nor its NATO allies wish to be seen as directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, which could spike already high tensions with Russia. Poland itself is a NATO member.
Asked whether Harris would raise alternative efforts to transfer Poland’s fighter jets to Ukraine and whether the discord over the issue would loom over the talks, the first official said the leaders would continue their discussions. “We have been in dialogue with the Poles for some time about how best to provide a variety of security assistance to Ukraine, and that’s a dialogue that absolutely will continue,” this official said.
A second senior administration official said Harris was stepping into the diplomatic engagements bolstered by two recent trips to Europe to meet with leaders in the face of Russian aggression.
“When she first went to Paris, we had already started to get the signs of potential Russian buildup,” the official said.
The vice president more recently met with European leaders during the Munich Security Conference against a backdrop of bleak warnings over Russia’s buildup of military forces on Ukraine’s borders. Within days of her return, Russia had launched its invasion.
“It’s not just extensive preparation for this particular trip, but the past couple of months have all been very much focused on what is tragically become a defining issue for the entire administration,” the second official said.
When Harris traveled to France last year to meet with President Emmanuel Macron after Paris showed outrage when Australia scrapped a submarine deal in favor of one involving the U.S., the two leaders sidestepped the issue. Still, the visit was viewed as an effort intended to thaw relations with France after Macron accused the U.S. of blindsiding him.
In Warsaw, Harris is also expected to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced he would extend his country’s NATO military mission in Central and Eastern Europe in response to Russia’s belligerence.
More than 2 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded less than two weeks ago. The White House said Harris would meet some of these refugees arriving in Poland, as well as U.S. and Polish service members.
After Warsaw, Harris is slated to travel to Bucharest, Romania, for a bilateral meeting with President Klaus Iohannis, whose country has also seen hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians streaming across its border.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The vice president has met with an array of European leaders in recent weeks, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich, in a show of solidarity with Kyiv and Western nations.
