President Biden privately blamed former President Barack Obama for failures that led to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, a new book claims.
“They f–ked up in 2014,” Biden vented to a friend of the time he was Obama’s vice president, according to Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “War,” previewed by CNN.
“That’s why we are here. We f–ked it up. Barack never took [Vladimir] Putin seriously,” he said, even though he was designated Obama’s de facto point man on Ukraine at the time.
“We did nothing. We gave Putin a license to continue!” Biden reportedly said, adding angrily: “Well, I’m revoking his f–king license!”
In 2014, the Kremlin annexed the Crimean Peninsula — a strategic strip of land between the Black Sea and Sea of Azov — after the ouster of Russia-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych during the Revolution of Dignity.
Russia later flooded Crimea with migrants and held onto it despite Ukraine’s efforts at sabotage, including by restricting water.
During that invasion, Obama, 63, slapped sanctions against Russia and took steps to help beef up Ukraine’s military.
However, he stopped short of funneling lethal military weaponry to the beleaguered country, something former President Donald Trump would later do.
Between 2014 and Russia’s February 2022 invasion, tensions exploded between the two neighboring countries and Ukraine became engulfed in a civil war against pro-Russia factions in the Donbas region. Kyiv has long blamed its belligerent neighbor for the Donbas War.
Obama had tried to ease relations with Russia, infamously working toward a “reset” with Moscow. The 44th president particularly sought to capitalize on Putin’s brief absence from the presidency between 2008 and 2012.
In 2012, he had a hot mic moment with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he assured his counterpart that he’d have more “flexibility” on the topic of missile defense after that year’s election.
Later in 2012, Obama downplayed the threat Russia posed to the US during his debate against then-Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” Obama chided at the time.
Fewer than two years later, Russia stormed into Crimea. To this day, Ukraine maintains that Crimea is its territory.
Over a decade after the 2012 debate, the two parties have shifted dramatically on Russia, with Democrats trying to paint themselves as hardliners while Republicans grapple with Russia-friendly elements of their base.
Trump, 78, has long called for thawing out the icy US relations with Russia and crowed about his rapport with Putin.
Woodward, 81, reported in his book that Trump had “maybe as many as seven” calls with Putin since his departure from the White House, citing a Trump aide.
However, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung later hit back in a statement, saying: “None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true.”
During his vice presidency, Biden had effectively been designated by Obama to serve as the de facto point man on Ukraine. At one point, Biden boasted about pushing to fire Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, whom he and other Europeans alleged was incompetent.
Shokin, 71, later claimed that he was gearing up to investigate Ukraine natural gas giant Burisma, a firm whose board Hunter Biden sat on at the time.
Those machinations later became subject to investigations from congressional Republicans.
Another key revelation from Woodward’s upcoming book is that Biden fumed against US Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose Justice Department pursued charges against 54-year-old first son Hunter Biden.
“Should never have picked Garland,” the president reflected to a confidant, per Woodward. “This is never going to f–king go away.”
In June, Hunter was found guilty by a jury for charges related to illegal possession of a firearm while addicted to illicit drugs. In September, he pleaded guilty to charges pertaining to bilking Uncle Sam $1.4 million in taxes.
The president has publicly stated that he will not pardon his son.
“War” is set to hit bookshelves on Oct. 15.
