Today in the Washington Post, Karoun Demirjian pulls back the curtain on the secret diplomacy that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pulled off during his surprise visit to Kiev last month.
While Biden is widely recognized as the president’s closest advisor on foreign policy, he doesn’t receive much attention outside the Beltway. During the campaign last year, Biden was mostly absent from the campaign trail. The trip he took to Kiev, Ukraine, last month took place almost entirely behind closed doors. There’s nothing unusual about this — foreign policy isn’t usually the biggest selling point in American politics — but the timing was.
From the Post:
While President Obama touted the trade talks at the time, Biden, who at the time was the most visible voice for the deal, did not go public with that key public-relations component of the agreement in Ukraine. He had instead been quietly working with European leaders to smooth out a few last-minute glitches — and trying to set up meetings with the Ukrainians themselves. To that end, he laid out the timetable in a careful meeting in a grimy Ukrainian apartment that went down mainly well with the delegation. But as the Ukrainians walked away, the U.S. official listening in heard a jeer from his host. “He said, ‘Why didn’t you bring the president here?’ ” the American official recalled with a laugh. At the same time, U.S. officials were watching some disturbing news. Russia was unleashing its military forces into Ukraine. At a tiny press conference, Crimean officials named local leaders who would take power if Ukraine were split. Such uncertainty over whom to trust is common in post-Soviet politics, but little more than a matter of jockeying for power is taken for granted in countries where autocrats held sway. The Ukrainians sounded almost relieved by the uncertainty, even if Biden didn’t see it that way.
So what comes after that breakthrough? If you’re Biden, you leave. While his visit went down mostly well, the Post report reveals that Biden’s visit “left his hosts in some disarray.” These disarrayes are likely to have some effect on Biden’s travels in the near future. Although he makes visits on most of the trips where key meetings are planned — most often to Asia — Biden’s itinerary in the future will most likely reflect the unofficial — or perhaps, official — politics that surround the crisis in Ukraine. Biden’s visit to Ukraine will remain out of public view for now.