By Labeling Putin a ‘War Criminal,’ Biden Personalizes the Conflict

Simply hours earlier than Mr. Biden’s declaration, his nationwide safety adviser, Jake Sullivan, informed Nikolai P. Patrushev, Mr. Putin’s predominant nationwide safety adviser, that “any attainable Russian choice to make use of chemical or organic weapons in Ukraine” would end in a good harsher Western response. Whereas none would say it publicly, a number of of Mr. Biden’s aides have been involved in current days that if the Russian chief feels cornered — or believes america is making an attempt to foment opposition to his rule — the possibilities that he’ll attain for such weapons might be heightened.

So the controversy underway in Washington now could be what, precisely, may set off Mr. Putin. Some consider he might lash out if dissent in Russia, already seen in road demonstrations, poses an actual menace to him. Others consider that his set off level could be a extra direct entry into the battle by NATO international locations, that are already offering antitank and antiaircraft weapons which have contributed to what the Pentagon now estimates is a Russian loss of life toll of at the least 7,000 troops.

One former intelligence official famous that it was Hillary Clinton’s help for road demonstrators who protested the election of pro-Putin lawmakers in Russia that prompted the Russian chief to order the hacks on the Democratic Nationwide Committee when Mrs. Clinton was operating for president in 2016. Mr. Putin is a believer, the official stated, in retribution.

Mr. Putin would have good motive to assume the Biden administration is wanting ahead to his exit, although American officers select their phrases rigorously to keep away from the implication that Washington’s coverage is to hurry the method. Mr. Blinken, chatting with reporters on Thursday, stated that “when all is claimed and accomplished, an impartial Ukraine will probably be there, and sooner or later Vladimir Putin is not going to.”

The final time an American president went head-to-head with a Russian or Soviet chief with a lot at stake was 60 years in the past, in the course of the Cuban missile disaster, extensively considered the closest the world got here to Armageddon. And but at that second, in October 1962, President Kennedy’s intuition was to keep away from personalizing the battle — and to assist his Soviet counterpart, Nikita S. Khrushchev, discover a means out of direct confrontation.

“I feel it’s the most pure comparability to this second,” stated Fredrik Logevall, a Harvard historian and Kennedy biographer.

“He stored warning the members of X-COMM,” the committee Kennedy established to information via the 13 days of the disaster, “that they needed to see issues from Khrushchev’s perspective,” he stated. “He stated we needed to give him one thing right here to step away. And he was cautious in his public feedback to not personalize his criticisms of Khrushchev himself. It’s a direct distinction to what Biden did.”