In remarks to the Annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon at the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “murderous dictator and a “pure thug” who is waging an “immoral war against the people of Ukraine.”
He warned that the Kremlin leader is already paying a heavy price for his aggression against Ukraine and notes Ireland’s role as a member of the U.N. Security Council in helping levy international sanctions against Russia.
Putin ordered a renewed invasion of the neighboring country on Feb. 24 as part of a war Moscow has waged against Ukraine since 2014 when the country’s Crimean Peninsula was forcibly seized and parts of the easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk were occupied.
The latest unprovoked invasion has created the largest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II and is wreaking devastation in civilian areas due to indiscriminate Russian bombardment.
The video of Biden’s statement can be viewed here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5006497/president-biden-calls-vladimir-putin-murderous-dictator-pure-thug
