U.S. President Joe Biden improperly addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit on Wednesday, mistakenly referring to him by the first name of the enemy he is attempting to defeat.
"Vladimir and I...I shouldn't be so familiar," Biden said during a press conference in Vilnius. He corrected himself and said, "Mr. Zelensky and I," prior to continuing. It should be noted that "Volodymyr" and "Vladimir" are different versions of the same name.
Biden has been prone to gaffes during his presidency, previously mistaking Ukrainians for Iranians and also asking if a lawmaker who had died was present during a White House conference. The NATO mispronunciation moment soon went viral on social media.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.
There are 31 NATO member countries' leaders present as part of the two-day summit that began Tuesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, which made news ahead of the gathering due to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreeing to allow Sweden to join the bloc—upping the member nations from 30 to 32 as another Scandinavian country, Finland, is also poised to join and leave decades of neutrality behind.
The summit is a further sign of solidary among NATO allies for Ukraine in its war against Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said its intent is to reinforce deterrence and defense for Ukraine while pledging additional "ambitious" military investments.
Piers Morgan pointed out Biden's error on Twitter, posting the video captioned with an "eyes covered" emoji. The Republican National Committee Twitter account also made light of it.
One Twitter user called it "simply unbelievable" and posted the video along with clown and alarm emojis. "This old man must just take a rest now," a follower of the account tweeted in response.
Others noted the Volodymyr/Vladimir similarity, empathizing with Biden that it was an easy mistake to make. As one Twitter user put it: "Same name, different spelling. Pay attention."
Biden met with Erdogan prior to the bilateral meeting, congratulating him on the agreement reached with NATO regarding Sweden. The pair reportedly discussed efforts to strengthen their countries' relationship, delving into defense and economic priorities, according to a statement by the White House.
They also reportedly discussed supporting Ukraine. Erdogan, once viewed as a key Putin ally, may have severed some ties due to Russia's scorn towards NATO and the countries aiding Ukraine militarily and financially.
Erdogan's actions come days after another major Putin ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, spoke candidly on the current whereabouts of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin—who attempted a mutiny in Moscow before brokering a reported deal with Lukashenko to safely seek refuge in Belarus.
"Lukashenko names the United States and the European Union as two major pillars of the emerging world order, while Putin has long insisted that the 'collective West' is leaving the world stage and is doomed to fail in its bid to perpetuate global domination," Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek.
"Lukashenko also repeats the mantra about no aggression being conducted from the Belarussian territory, trying to create grounds for Minsk to deny close association with Russia in the war against Ukraine at the moment of final reckoning."
France and the United Kingdom both announced in Vilnius that they plan to arm Ukraine's military with long-range cruise missiles.
Amanda Sloat, National Security Council senior director for Europe, said Wednesday that allies have committed to spending 2 percent of GDP on defense and increasing collective defense investments—referring to it as "a floor and not a ceiling" as 2023 represents the ninth consecutive year of increased defense spending by non-U.S. allies.
But even as Zelensky profusely thanked his allies for continued weaponry and increased defense spending, he and Kyiv have expressed frustration with not being invited to officially join the alliance in the same vein as Finland and Sweden.
"It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance," Zelensky tweeted on Tuesday, additionally calling it "unprecedented and absurd" to essentially leave him and his nation in the dark regarding a timeline for admittance.
Biden, however, is among NATO leaders who are quite ambivalent about admitting Ukraine to the alliance in the midst of this war, fearing it would further provoke Putin and Russia.
The president's view is shared by retired U.S. General Barry McCaffrey.
"For [Zelensky] to insist on this public gesture, it seems to me is foolhardy," McCaffrey said during an interview on MSNBC. "This plays into Putin's hand. He wants to claim he's fighting against NATO, not criminal invasion of a neighboring country."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
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