March 24, 2022: Biden in Europe, WMD fears at center stage
The big news at the morning NATO confab, announced Wednesday by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, is threefold: (1) NATO is doubling its military footprint in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia to counter the threat from Russia; (2) Biden and NATO leaders will increase pressure on China to condemn the Russian invasion; (3) NATO will take additional steps to aid Ukraine with \u201ccybersecurity assistance\u201d and \u201cequipment to help Ukraine protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.\u201d\nIt\u2019s that third issue that has seized everyone\u2019s attention, as WMDs are now a serious focus of the summit. Stoltenberg repeatedly called on Russia to stop its \u201cnuclear sabre-rattling,\u201d and warned that \u201cthe spread of chemical or biological agents used in Ukraine may have dire consequences also for the population living in NATO Allied countries in Europe.\u201d\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.