Starmer and Biden brush off Putin’s threat of war

WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer brushed off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats Friday as they met to discuss Ukraine’s pleas to use British-supplied missiles against targets on Russian soil.

Asked what he made of Putin saying such an act would put NATO countries “at war with Russia,” the U.S. President told reporters: “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

In response to a shouted question asking how soon he was prepared to let Ukraine fire missiles deeper into Russia, Biden added: “We’re going to discuss that now.”

Speaking after the meeting, Starmer said no final decision had been taken on the Storm Shadow missiles, and hinted further developments may follow at the gathering of the UN General Assembly later this month. “We’ll obviously pick up again in UNGA in just a few days time with a wider group of individuals,” he said.

Starmer insisted “this wasn’t a meeting about a particular capability,” but added: “We’ve come to a strong position.” He denied his focus on the “next few weeks and months” was about securing tactics on Ukraine before the U.S. presidential election, and a potential victory for Donald Trump, who has described Putin as a “genius.”

“No, I think if you look at both the Ukrainian situation and the Middle East, it is obvious that in the coming weeks and months there are really important potential developments, whatever timetables are going on in other countries,” he said.

The two leaders met one-to-one for around 20 minutes in the Oval Office before a longer group meeting with aides, on strategic challenges including Ukraine and the Middle East. The U.K. prime minister earlier did not rule out allowing Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles despite Putin’s threats — telling reporters Thursday: “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away.”

Officials on both sides of the Atlantic stressed repeatedly that there would be no decision moment on Storm Shadow missiles from Friday’s meeting. White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said: “I wouldn’t be looking for an announcement today about long range strike capabilities inside Russia. There’s no change to our policy with respect to that.”

That did not prevent Russia and Ukraine each ramping up pressure on the U.K. and U.S. — who already fear escalation. “It’s difficult to repeatedly hear, ‘We are working on this,’ while Putin continues to burn down our cities and villages,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X Friday.

Meanwhile, Moscow announced Friday it had expelled six British diplomats, accusing them of spying. The U.K. called the accusations “baseless” and said the diplomats lost their status in August, before the current row.

Later on Friday, the U.S. State Department announced new sanctions on Russian state media channel RT.

Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson piled on pressure Friday by meeting Zelenskyy in Kyiv — and urging the U.K. and U.S. to let Ukraine use both nations’ long-range missiles, Storm Shadow, SCALP and ATACMS, against targets in Russian territory. Johnson added: “Every day that goes by means more pointless and tragic loss of Ukrainian lives.”

The U.K.’s Conservative former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said the meeting between Biden and Starmer “must deliver one outcome: Ukraine must be able to strike with Storm Shadows inside Russia if Russia continues to launch attacks on Ukraine from these locations.”

The use of Storm Shadow missiles relies partly on U.S. technology, so officials see Biden’s approval as vital to the process.

But the main reason for wanting to walk in lockstep is diplomatic. Two U.K. government officials, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, told POLITICO they had been keen to avoid giving any impression of a difference in opinion between the two allies.

Both officials also voiced doubt that the use of Storm Shadow missiles would be a game-changer in the war, despite Zelenskyy saying sufficient use of them could “truly change the course of the war.”

Starmer met representatives of defense and aerospace firms at the British Embassy in Washington on Friday, but that meeting was not related to the missiles, a No. 10 spokesperson told POLITICO.

His meeting with Biden was followed by a 90-minute wider summit with Foreign Secretary David Lammy and aides, including National Security Adviser Tim Barrow, U.K. Ambassador Karen Pierce, his chief of staff Sue Gray and Director of Communications Matthew Doyle.

The U.K. prime minister said at the start of the meeting: “I think the next few weeks and months could be crucial. It’s very very important that we support Ukraine in this vital war of freedom.”

Starmer had been actively seeking the wider strategic meeting with Biden for some time, after seeing the president at July’s NATO summit in his first week in office.

The U.K. prime minister also sought meetings with both candidates for president during his visit to Washington, but they were out of town on the campaign. While he has spoken once to Donald Trump following the assassination attempt, Starmer told reporters he had not yet spoken to his opponent in November’s race for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris.