Biden sent to soothe Europe on Russia overtures

WARSAW | Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived here Tuesday on the first leg of a delicate diplomatic repair mission that follows the Obama administration’s abrupt reversal on missile defense, a decision that rekindled deep-seated unease in a region where the U.S. is seen as the only reliable counterweight to a potentially menacing Russian neighbor.

By visiting with top Polish, Czech and Romanian officials this week, the vice president is hoping to reassure the three NATO allies that the United States remains deeply committed to their security. And, he intends his visit to serve as an important marker, coming 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in the evolution of American relations with the former Eastern Bloc nations.

It is expected that Mr. Biden will be welcomed warmly. But in a series of private meetings with presidents, prime ministers and opposition leaders in all three countries, he also will be reminded of the historic tensions that have turned recent American overtures to Russia into a topic of broad suspicion. Mr. Biden hopes to settle those nerves.

“I think you’ll see a lot of focus and reaffirmation of those partnerships,” said Antony Blinken, the vice president’s top national security adviser.

But the real driver of Mr. Biden’s journey is no secret to anyone.

“He’s doing damage control, plain and simple,” said Damon Wilson, who served as senior director for European Affairs at the National Security Council under President George W. Bush.

“The vice president understands this is much less about missile defense than it is about an erosion of trust,” said Mr. Wilson, who now serves as the director of the International Security Program at the Atlantic Council of the United States. “And it’s a problem that has been building and building and building.”

Those concerns surfaced even before President Obama took office, when he and Mr. Biden first began hinting at a new approach to relations with Russia. The idea of hitting reset on the relationship was mentioned in transition papers, and became formalized when the president visited Moscow in July.

The new approach came as Eastern Europeans were already harboring doubts about the reliability of NATO security guarantees. They were dealing with new fears about the Russian stranglehold on their energy supplies. And they were fending off internal political damage stemming from their support for the war in Iraq.

That has been compounded by a sense that the Obama administration has viewed Eastern Europe as a low priority, given the strengthening of the European Union and the firmer roots of democracy in the region.

Then came the decision on missile defense, which, while not unexpected, was handled in a manner that came across as “amateurish,” said David J. Kramer, who served eight years in the State Department, including as the senior voice on European affairs.

Apparently fearing a press leak, the Obama administration made the decision not to consult with Polish and Czech leaders before announcing the new policy, said Mr. Kramer, who now serves as a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund.

On the eve of the announcement, U.S. officials called in the Polish and Czech ambassadors to tell them there was a decision on missile defense, but then refused to say what the decision was. They instead made calls to the foreign leaders in the middle of the night to break the news.

“If the groundwork had been laid with Eastern Europe, it may have been different,” said Les Gelb, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who is close to Mr. Biden. “You can’t just say, ‘April Fool.’ You have to lay the groundwork.”

The episode served to further distress countries that already harbor doubts about the level of American commitment to their safety. And that distress comes at a time when Russia’s neighbors are feeling increasingly uneasy about its intentions in Georgia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states.

Story Continues →