Foreign diplomats and experts said Biden's comments were also an acknowledgment of a harsh reality: as tensions rise on the Ukrainian border , NATO allies are not all on the same page. There is "some truth there, which didn't need to be said out loud," one NATO diplomat told CNN Thursday. "It's not like the Russians didn't know that, say, a cyber-attack against Ukraine wouldn't trigger a full-scale response." The fear is that Biden saying this publicly will give Russian President Vladimir Putin the green light to escalate what is already a very dangerous situation. What they are deeply upset by, however, is the finger being pointed at Europe's disunity on security quite so directly.

Source: CNN January 20, 2022 22:41 UTC