Washington Gave Moscow Last Minute Notice Of Biden Visit, White House Says

Washington D.C./20.02.23/Turan:  The White House said on Monday that it had notified Moscow of President Joe Biden’s trip to Kyiv hours before the visit took place, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

“We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes, and because of the sensitive nature of those communications I won’t get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was, but I can confirm that we provided that notice,” Sullivan said.

Jon Finer, a deputy national security adviser, added that the entire operation had been meticulously planned over a period of months with the final decision on whether to go ahead with the visit taken on Friday in the Oval Office.

The planning included the chief of staff's office, the National Security Council and the White House Military Office, with input from a small number of officials at the US Secret Service, the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community, according to Finer.

Finer did not confirm Biden’s mode of transport, however. Further logistical details will be provided once it is safe to do so.

Biden was regularly briefed on the plans for the trip, including threat assessments, as the visit came together. "He was satisfied the risk was manageable," Sullivan said.

“The travelling party accompanying the president was extremely small, consisting basically of a handful of his closest aides, a small medical team, a photographer and the security package,” Finer said.

"It's important to him to show up, even when it's hard, and he directed his team to make it happen no matter how challenging the logistics," White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield added.

Alex Raufoglu