BUCHAREST – Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday that Americans will have to bear the brunt of higher gas prices, but stressed it was worth punishing Russia for waging war on Ukraine.
She spoke on the second day of a high-stakes diplomatic trip through Poland and Romania aimed at reassuring the two NATO allies bordering Ukraine.
“Democracy has a price to pay. You have to stand next to your friends,” Ms Harris said during a joint press conference with Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis. “Sometimes that is difficult. Often it is not easy.”
The White House had already warned Americans that US and European sanctions on Russian oil and energy would impact gas prices in the United States, a message the vice president reiterated during her trip abroad.
When peace talks between Ukraine and Russia appeared to be making little progress, Ms. Harris was faced with questions about how the United States would deal with the ripple effects of a Russian military attack increasingly targeting civilians in Ukraine and more than 2 million refugees. forced to flee. †
Ms Harris ended the first leg of her visit to the Polish capital Warsaw by greeting US and Polish troops and reiterating her accusation that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine, citing the recent attack on a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol.
“It is painful to see what is happening to innocent people in Ukraine who just want to live in their own country and are proud of themselves as Ukrainians,” said Ms Harris. “Who want to be at home, speak the language they know, go to the church they know.”
In Warsaw, Mrs. Harris focused on the details of the Biden administration’s efforts to tackle Europe’s burgeoning refugee crisis. Only Poland has to deal with almost 1.3 million refugees from neighboring Ukraine.
But in the Romanian capital Bucharest, both Ms. Harris and Mr. Iohannis also seemed concerned about the possibility that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia might extend his invasion to smaller countries in the region, such as Romania or Moldova.
At their joint press conference, Ms Harris said the United States had agreed in recent weeks to send a 1,000-strong assault unit to protect NATO’s eastern flank. Mr Iohannis said Romania had increased its security spending to 2.5 percent from 2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
The Romanian president added that he had discussed with allies strengthening NATO’s military presence in the region.
“NATO will act without hesitation to defend any allied state, including, of course, Romania,” Iohannis said. “I say it while standing next to one of the most strategic partners. We will defend every inch when it comes to the obligations that bind us.”
But the Biden administration has faced questions from members of Congress at home and leaders abroad about how far it will go to equip international allies with weapons.
The vice president’s visit was complicated from the start when Poland proposed to transfer Soviet-era fighter jets to the United States, for eventual transfer to Ukraine. The United States rejected the move Wednesday night, fearing it could be seen by Moscow as an escalation and push NATO into a direct confrontation with Russia.
The government instead relied mainly on cooperation with Western allies to impose a series of sanctions on Russia, including oil and energy, which have hit Russia’s currency hard.
War Between Russia and Ukraine: Important Things to Know
To the ground. Russian forces, battered by local resistance, have stepped up their bombardment over Ukraine, targeting locations far from the front lines. Satellite images of a convoy north of Kiev suggest Russia is repositioning its forces for another attack there.
While President Biden was widely credited for encouraging European allies to coordinate economic sanctions, Heather A. Murphy, chairman of the German Marshall Fund, said this presented a new challenge.
Western allies, including Romania and Poland, have supported sanctions against Russia and welcomed the proposed military and humanitarian aid to the region. Now they expect to see resources on the ground soon to deter Russia’s advance.
“The challenge for the vice president will rightly be the speed of it all,” said Ms. Murphy. “Now it’s about the speed at which American resources are flowing into my territory.”
The sanctions could also complicate the political situation in the US, where Americans have struggled for months with rising inflation, which has plunged the Biden presidency’s approval ratings.
The consumer price index rose 7.9 percent through February, the highest inflation rate in 40 years. The average price for a gallon of gasoline was $4.32 Thursday, according to AAA. Economists say that because of those record gas prices, inflation is expected to rise even further.
If the war continues, these problems can only multiply over time.
Peace talks between top officials of Ukraine and Russia made little progress this week. Ms Harris insisted the government is still looking for a diplomatic way forward, but did not detail a resolution that would encourage Mr Putin to withdraw from his military strike.
“We argue that diplomacy is the way to solve these problems,” she said. “That goes along with our commitment to making sure our allies are strong and there must be serious consequences and accountability for what Russia is doing.”
Matthew Mpoke Bigg contributed to reporting.