President Joe Biden said Russia needed to free Alexei Navalny ‘immediately’ as he said the United States will no longer ‘roll over’ to President Vladimir Putin ‘like my predecessor.’
The tough and anti-Trump talk came Thursday when Biden made his first trip to a cabinet agency, the State Department under the leadership of his longtime aide, Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
There, Biden also said he would ‘take on directly’ the challenges posed the the U.S.’s ‘most serious competitor,’ China.
President Joe Biden spoke at the State Department Thursday and demanded that Russia release Alexei Navalny ‘immediately’
By choosing Foggy Bottom as his first Cabinet stop – as opposed to the Pentagon or another department – Biden is making a heavily symbolic gesture to an agency suffering from morale problems in the wake of Trump’s presidency.
‘We are grateful to both of you for visiting us so early on in the administration. Despite the remnants of snow outside, we know that you want to make the State Department as strong as it possibly can be for the country,’ Blinken said in his initial remarks to greet Biden and Harris.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during the trip the president will thank staff ‘who are Foreign Service officers, civil servants, who are the heart and soul of that institution and, frankly, our government.’
She said Biden’s remarks shouldn’t be interpreted as a complete vision of his foreign policy plans.
‘This will not be a laydown of his vision for every issue and every foreign policy issue. He will have plenty of time to do that,’ Psaki noted at her Wednesday press briefing.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden will end support for Saudi Arabia’s controversial war in Yemen and will freeze Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw some U.S. troops stationed in Germany
In making the State Department his first Cabinet stop as president, Joe Biden is making a heavily symbolic gesture to an agency suffering from morale problems in the wake of Trump’s presidency
Trump took an isolationist view in his foreign policy and didn’t visit the State Department for more than a year into his presidency – to see Mike Pompeo sworn in as secretary after Trump fired Rex Tillerson.
It was his first and only visit. Trump also accused officials at Foggy Bottom of being part of the ‘deep state’ out to undermine his presidency.
Biden, who spent years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to be much more engaged in foreign policy during his time in the White House.
He’s already returned the United States to international agreements and organizations that Trump withdrew from – including the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization.
Biden also has endorsed a multilateral approach to issues ranging from the coronavirus pandemic to China and Iran.
‘We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world,’ he said in his inaugural address.
And the president chose his longtime confidant, Blinken, to be his secretary of State.
Blinken has vowed to take politics out of the department.
‘I am determined to put our career folks in positions of responsibility and leadership, and I am absolutely determined that politics are not going to come into this building,’ he told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell in an interview last week.
On his first day at Foggy Bottom, in remarks to staff, Blinken told them: ‘I will have your back.’
‘It starts with rebuilding morale and trust. This is a priority for me because we need a strong department for the United States to be strong in the world,’ he said.
Although Biden’s first nominations and appointments to senior positions at State have trended heavily toward political appointees, the president and Blinken have pledged to promote career staffers.
The State Department visit comes after Biden moved on Wednesday to extend the last remaining treaty limiting Russian and American stockpiles of nuclear weapons, acting just two days before the pact was set to expire.
It also follows days after a coup in Myanmar that has emerged as an early proving ground of Biden’s approach to multilateralism.
Prior to Biden’s visit, the White House said Thursday that Biden will end support for Saudi Arabia’s controversial war in Yemen – his first major foreign policy reversal.
President Barack Obama began support for Saudi Arabia and President Donald Trump ramped it up, but Biden will announce during his visit to the State Department that it’s ending.
‘Today he will announce an end to American support for offensive operations in Yemen,’ said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House press briefing.
The move would fulfill a campaign pledge by Biden, whose administration plans to pursue diplomacy to end the overall conflict in Yemen.
Sullivan also said Biden will freeze Trump’s planned withdrawal of some U.S. troops stationed in Germany.
Biden also is announcing the choice of Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen when he speaks to State Department employees. Lenderking has been a deputy assistant secretary of state in the agency’s Middle East section. A career foreign service member, he has served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries inside and out of the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 to counter a Yemeni Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and was launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led air campaign since then has killed numerous civilians, and survivors display fragments showing the bombs to be American-made.
The conflict has deepened hunger and poverty in Yemen, and international rights experts say both the Gulf countries and Houthis have committed severe rights abuses.