Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg frankly admitted in his memoirs that former US President Joe Biden was not always favorable to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and even called him a "rock in the ass" behind his back.
Points of attention
- The incident at the summit highlighted the differences in approach between Biden and Zelensky regarding Ukraine's NATO aspirations.
- Stoltenberg's memoir sheds light on the behind-the-scenes dynamics and reveals Biden's candid remark about Zelensky being a 'pain in the ass.'
Zelensky sometimes irritated Biden
The former NATO Secretary General recalled an incident that occurred on the eve of the Alliance summit in June 2023.
It was then that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky publicly demanded from the bloc members clear formulations regarding Ukraine's prospects in NATO.
According to Stoltenberg, such categoricalness greatly irritated Biden.
What is important to understand is that the points regarding Ukraine in the final declaration were agreed upon with official Kyiv in advance.
So we were caught off guard by the events of the first day of the summit. On the way to Vilnius, Zelensky posted a harshly critical Twitter post against NATO. He called it "absurd" that the alliance had not provided a timetable for either Ukraine's invitation to NATO or its membership.
Jens Stoltenberg
NATO External Secretary
However, this outraged former American leader Joe Biden the most.
He didn't even hide his emotions, although he did it behind closed doors:
Biden, who was sitting next to me, leaned over and said, "As they say in America, he (Zelensky — ed.) is a pain in the ass," Stoltenberg recalls.
