Joe Biden was granted 'personal safety guarantee' for Kyiv visit by Putin, says Medvedev

Former spokesman of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Medvedev, on Monday claimed that Moscow guaranteed US President Joe Biden’s safety during his visit to Ukraine. "Joe Biden came to Kyiv only with a personal guarantee for security from Russian President Vladimir Putin, that there will be no rocket and aviation strikes during the visit," the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said in a statement on his official Telegram channel. He noted that Russia's forces were given orders of a cease-fire on the day of the American president's visit. 

"Biden, having received security guarantees, finally went to Kyiv," Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

Russian minister slams Biden for 'allegiance to the neo-Nazi regime' 

Ex-spokesman of Russia's President Putin slammed the US for pledging "a lot of weapons" and allegedly swearing "allegiance to the neo-Nazi regime" of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "And of course, there were mutual spells about the victory that would come with new weapons," Medvedev asserted. He echoed President Putin's narrative, who, in televised remarks justified war saying that his offensive was aimed to "denazify" Ukraine. 

"The purpose of this operation is to protect people who for eight years now have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime," Putin had said on state television, according to an English translation from the Russian Mission in Geneva. 

Medvedev accused the NATO member states of "regularly delivering weapons and money to Kyiv quite regularly. In huge quantities, allowing the military-industrial complex of NATO countries "to earn money, [make profits], and "steal weapons for sale to terrorists around the world." Russia's minister Medvedev derided the US for delivering the advanced Main Battle Tanks MBTs, shells, and long-range artillery, saying that while the weapons are necessary, "people are undoubtedly more important." 

Medvedev invoked the issue of migrant exodus in Ukraine as war has been exacerbated by NATO weapons. "I've talked with immigrants from Ukrainian territories," he noted in the statement, adding that the Ukrainian population has been rampantly fleeing the conflict-prone areas as Ukrainian forces shell the towns and civilian infrastructure. In 2001, the population of Ukraine, according to the census, was about 48.5 million people, he said. Then, in 2014, "Crimea and Donbas fell away," he stressed. A total of 15 to 20 million people left, he latter asserted. "Their [Ukrainians'] mass departure is the answer to the question of who the future belongs to," the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia.