‘Putin was wrong, we were ready’: Biden calls out Russian ‘dictator’ directly in State of the Union speech

President tells Congress that the US and the Nato alliance were ‘ready’ for Russian president’s assault on Ukraine

President Joe Biden on Tuesday used his first State of the Union address to call out Russian “dictator” Vladimir Putin for launching an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underestimating the effectiveness of American diplomacy and the Nato alliance.

Moments into his remarks, Mr Biden compared Mr Putin’s actions to aggression demonstrated by other authoritarians in years past while tying his war on Ukraine to the reason for Nato’s creation after the Second World War.

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“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson: When dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos. They keep moving, and the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising,” he said. “That’s why the Nato Alliance was created to secure peace and stability in Europe after World War Two.”

Mr Biden recounted to Congress how he’d spent “countless hours” on the task of “unifying” America’s allies — many of whom were left with questions about the US commitment to the transatlantic alliance after four years of Donald Trump’s “America First” policies — and put the world on notice of Mr Putin’s plans by rapidly declassifying and releasing intelligence about “what we knew Putin was planning and precisely how he would try to falsely justify his aggression”.

The result of having “countered Putin’s lies with truth,” Mr Biden said, was that Nato was unified and prepared for the Russian leader’s “premeditated and unprovoked” attack on Ukraine.

“He thought the West and Nato wouldn’t respond, and he thought he could divide us at home,” he said. “Putin was wrong — we were ready”.

The president explained how the “free world” has responded to Mr Putin’s aggression, with the European Union, Nato, and even countries such as Switzerland and Japan were “holding him accountable” with “powerful” economic sanctions, which he said were already “inflicting pain” on Russia’s economy.

He also described the measures America and her allies are taking to cut Russian oligarchs close to Mr Putin off from their yachts, luxury apartments and private jets with the help of a new task force, as well as closing off American airspace to Russian-flagged aircraft.

And in an ad-libbed aside, Mr Biden hinted that more could be possible if Mr Putin does not desist from waging war on the “proud Ukrainian people”.

“He has no idea what's coming,” he said.