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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Biden Hits Russia With New Sanctions Over "Flagrant" Violations Of International Law" With Ukraine "Invasion;" Putin Orders Troops Into Pro-Russian Regions Of Eastern Ukraine; Biden: Russia's Moves Are "Beginning Of Invasion" Into Ukraine; Blinken & Ukrainian Foreign Minister Briefing Reporters. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired February 22, 2022 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:03]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I feel like you've got to have two margaritas just -- I mean, you're going to miss out if you don't.
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BLACKWELL: It's a fantastic day. What are you going to do?
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CAMEROTA: All right. THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Biden asks, what gives Putin the right?
THE LEAD starts right now.
Harsh words from President Biden as he punishes Russian President Vladimir Putin with economic sanctions. And Biden warns there's worse to come if Putin takes even more of Ukraine.
And a pain in the wallet. Gas prices already soaring. And now, the Russian Ukraine crisis could send even more prices surging.
Then the three white men accused of federal hate crimes for chasing down and killing Ahmaud Arbery learned their fate.
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
We start today with our world lead. And President Biden this afternoon announcing a series of new economic sanctions against Russia after what Biden calls Vladimir Putin's flagrant violation of international law.
The sanctions target two of Russia's main financial institutions, and Russian elites and their family members who are close to the Kremlin. President Biden saying he is moving in to cut Russia's government off
from western financing. All this in response to Putin officially recognizing as independent territories two parts of Ukraine, Luhansk and Donetsk, which make up the Donbas region and ordering Russian troops into those areas. It's not clear if these new sanctions will deter Putin, of course. A senior administration official that sanctions were a, quote, wallop but acknowledge the Biden administration is holding on to most of its arsenal, giving the administration's belief that Russia could still launch a full invasion on the entirety of Ukraine.
Earlier today, CNN teams in southern Russia near the border with Ukraine saw large numbers of Russian military vehicles. The NATO secretary general just told reporters that, quote, more and more Russian troops have moved out of their camps in Russia and are in, quote, combat formations and ready to strike. We're going to go live to both Russia and Ukraine in just moments.
But, first, CNN's Kaitlan Collins starts us off from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden announcing a rap of new sanctions as he seeks to punish Russia for what he says is the start of an invasion into Ukraine.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
COLLINS: The president joining European leaders and condemning Russian President Putin for recognizing two breakaway Ukrainian regions as, quote, independent, defying international law and violating Ukraine's borders.
BIDEN: To put it simply, Russia just announced that it is carving out a big chunk of Ukraine. Who in the Lord's name does Putin think he is to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors?
COLLINS: Biden says the U.S. will take action against two Russian banks, cut Russia off from sovereign debt financing in the West and send more U.S. troops into the Baltic States to reinforce NATO allies.
BIDEN: Russia will pay an even steeper price if it continues its aggression, including additional sanctions.
COLLINS: On Tuesday, Russia's parliament authorized the use of Russian forces outside of Russia at Putin's demand, raising fears that he's planning to conduct a full-scale assault against Ukraine.
BIDEN: We still believe Russia is poised to go much further in launching a massive military attack against Ukraine. I hope I'm wrong about that. I hope we're wrong about that.
COLLINS: The challenge facing Biden and his European counterparts is whether to unleash the full sanctions now or hold back in case Putin attempts to seize the entire country, possibly killing thousands in the process.
BIDEN: If Russia proceeds, it is Russia and Russia alone that bears responsibility.
COLLINS: The president touting steps taken by other allies including Germany, halting certification of a natural gas pipeline linked to Russia while also warning Americans that energy prices at home could be impacted.
BIDEN: Defending freedom will have cost for us as well and here at home. We need to be honest about that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And Jake, in explaining why the White House did not go further in these sanctions today, a senior official just told reporters, this is only the beginning of the Russian invasion. Therefore, it is only the beginning of their response.
Of course, it remains to be seen what Putin does next. But President Biden did leave the door open to diplomacy, saying he does still believe a path down that road is possible. He met with the Ukrainian foreign minister here in the White House and shows support for Ukraine as we wait to see if the White House will cancel the planned meeting between Secretary of State Blinken is that the Russian foreign minister that is supposed to happen on Thursday -- Jake.
TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.
Let's to go our team in the region now. CNN's Clarissa Ward is in Kyiv, Ukraine. CNN's Jill Dougherty is in Moscow.
And, Clarissa, Ukrainian President Zelensky called for strong sanctions against Russia. Is he going to be satisfied with what he just heard from President Biden do you think?
[16:05:06]
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Jake, President Zelensky just released a pre-recorded statement in which he expressed profound gratitude. Not just to the U.S. but other Western nations for the sanctions. It's no secret that before hand, Ukraine's attitude had been, if you're so sure it will happen, why don't you go ahead and implement those sanctions now? Why do you wait for Russia to launch an incursion before doing so? But now, there is a sense that everyone is in lock-step and grateful, as I mentioned, for that support.
The other thing he said in this statement that I thought was interesting was that he is going to go ahead and call up reservists from the military for a sort of designated period of time.
This is first time we have heard President Volodymyr Zelensky talking about what Ukraine's military response might be to this. And that's because there is now after a long time of taking the attitude of keep calm and carry on, there is a sort of grim reluctant awareness of the fact that Putin very much has the possibility to launch a further incursion.
Because when they talked about recognizing two independent breakaway republics, those two republics as being independent, Putin today clarified that he looks at their borders, not as being the current front lines but being their declared borders, which are actually extending much further into Ukrainian territory, including major cities like Mariupol. It's a port city of a half a million. I've been there. Alex Marquardt, my colleague, has been there.
So there's a real concern that Russia has now created if you like a legal pretext or basis to now act in a more aggressive manner and keep pushing in and essentially, nibbling around the edges of Ukrainian territory.
TAPPER: That's right. And, Jill, senior administration officials just told me a few minutes ago that Putin going to the parliament, the Duma, asking for, quote, unquote permission, although he gets whatever he wants, to use Russian forces outside of Russia, that that is a major development in their thinking for today's sanctions.
You've covered Putin for years. How big a deal do you think that was?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is a big deal. No question about it. It is all part of what has been happening over the last couple days which is almost like theater unrolling. Number one, of course, recognizing those breakaway regions and then today, the parliament, pictures all over TV, voting to give the green light to President Putin to order, deploy troops to those regions.
And I think what the other step in that drama is what Clarissa was talking about, extending the boundaries because those rebels actually claim a lot more territory than they control. And that raises a whole lot of other issues.
And then the other thing, it's just kind of this feeling of almost inevitable rolling through. You know, the Kremlin tonight saying, we didn't have time to watch President Biden and his speech because we had a working meeting. There's kind of this move coming from the Kremlin that we're moving ahead regardless of what anybody thinks.
TAPPER: Clarissa Ward in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jill Dougherty in Moscow, thank you so much to both of you.
Here to discuss, Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. She's on the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. She's a former CIA analyst.
Thank you so much for being here, Congresswoman. Appreciate it.
So, senior administration officials just told me that obviously Russian troops have been in separatist parts of Donbas for much of the last eight years, doing so openly is just taking off the mask. They said to the Biden administration, the real crossing of the line was Putin suggesting that the entirety of the Donbas region, even though only a third is controlled by separatists, the entirety are independent states. That means two-thirds of this part of Ukraine, controlled by Ukraine, Russia is basically seizing.
REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Yeah. I mean, I think that's a fundamental difference. But then when you pair it with the speech that Putin gave yesterday, I think it's hard to ignore that we're in a very different phase. We've been in a slow-rolling move toward this for a long time. Now we're here. And I think the important thing is the entire world is watching how we react.
So, I think what happened today was a positive step. All these different countries announcing their initial sanctions, it can't be the end of it. It has to be the beginning. I think that what people -- we can control is our response to it, not what Putin decides to do.
TAPPER: Do you think President Biden went far enough with the sanctions he just announced or should the U.S. really just go all in with all sanctions? Crippling sanctions, devastating sanctions? As many would like him to do?
SLOTKIN: Well, I hope today was an opening salvo. And I think he said that. We need to see what happens in the next couple days.
[16:10:01]
We need the British to do more. We need the Germans to do more.
For our end, though, I think, you know, the most important thing -- I think about all the other countries, particularly a place like China that's watching what's going on right now. We have to show a swift response in order to make sure that any would be autocrat doesn't think they can just take territory from a neighboring country and think that the world community is not going to respond. So, there's a lot watching right now, a lot at stake.
TAPPER: Does the fact this happened suggest that those who have been calling for sanctions before today, Congressman Mike McCaul, the ranking Republican on foreign affairs et cetera, were right, that these -- that Biden should have put tough sanctions into place months ago?
SLOTKIN: I mean, I think Putin knows. He knows from 2014 that we were going to come back with a tough set of sanctions, stronger than 2014. And he's built in enough reserves to account for that.
TAPPER: Right.
SLOTKIN: That he's accepted.
And so, I don't know that putting in sanctions ahead of an invasion would have mattered. I was one of those people who was saying we should have had a stronger hand before to try to deter him.
But honestly, I mean, the amount intelligence that this administration has declassified, as a CIA officer I will tell you it is unprecedented, and it was all to deter him from doing what he did yesterday and today.
It doesn't work. The man has a different calculus and a different view of the world.
TAPPER: Well, that's the thing. He doesn't look at the world the way a Western leader looks.
SLOTKIN: Right. No.
TAPPER: Right? I mean, he declared in 2005, Putin, that the biggest geopolitical catastrophe in history was the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
SLOTKIN: Right.
TAPPER: In 2007, he made it clear that he viewed NATO as the aggressor. I mean, this has become coming for a long time, right?
SLOTKIN: Yeah, he has a very different view of events. And for me, it's all about undoing who won the Cold War. He just doesn't accept that the United States won. He doesn't accept the role of the world -- for the role of Russia and the world is not as prominent as it used to be.
Look, we've all been talking about him for a month straight. He has gotten everyone's attention by being a bad actor and he loves that. He enjoys having all the folks coming at his capital and court him.
But I think it's because, frankly, he has to show his strength in front of his people. It's the only thing he has. The economy isn't anything other than the oil sector. So, he just has a different orientation and we need to think about that when we try to react in the next few days.
TAPPER: If you could put your CIA hat on, if you have it somewhere, as a former analyst, what signs are you looking for to determine whether or not Putin is actually going to do a full-scale invasion, seizing the entirety of Ukraine, including the capital of Kyiv?
SLOTKIN: Yeah, we've been watching his military activities and it's not just the placement of troops. It's also obviously aircraft, but things like field hospitals, blood supplies -- you know, things that would indicate that he's going to be in for a much bigger invasion. We obviously have a good beat on the intelligence that's coming out of the Kremlin, military communications, those kinds of things. So, we're going to be watching those.
I mean, with 130,000 troops surrounding the country, you have to assume that he's going to do something more than what he's been doing in the last couple of days.
But I also watch our response, right? NATO is moving forces into the Baltic States and putting planes in the air. We're moving 1,000 troops, moving folks from Italy.
So, it's watching how they respond in the next couple days. Nobody wants nuclear powers to be in close contact with each other in such a sensitive region of the world.
TAPPER: You're running for reelection. What do you say to the members of your congressional district who say, who cares? This is thousands of miles away. This doesn't affect me.
SLOTKIN: Yeah. Well, first of all, we're going to see with what Russia has done. The price of gas unfortunately go up, and in a district where people drive 40 miles one way to work, you better believe the price of gas is already a pain for them, a major pain.
But then, secondly, look, it's not just about Russia and Ukraine, right? We have a lot of Ukrainian Americans in Michigan. But the big game for us is China.
And if they see the world community with a limp response to what Russia is doing, we shouldn't be surprised when the Chinese do the same thing with Taiwan, when they try to cut off our access and turn us from a global power to a continental power.
And I know that people in my district do not want to see their kids working for Chinese companies instead of American companies. They want to us to be able to maintain a strong role in the world, a strong competitive role. And I think they see this as an opportunity to say to not just the Russians but the Chinese, that we're not going to accept them just rewriting the next century.
TAPPER: Congresswoman Melissa Slotkin, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.
Coming up, we take a look at what the Russian moves actually may not for the borders on the ground in Ukraine. And then a COVID milestone that is good news but there is growing concern about the long term health impacts for people who had it.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our world lead, President Joe Biden is calling Vladimir Putin's latest move in eastern Ukraine the beginning of an invasion, setting off a series of sanctions and condemnation from the international community. At issue are two areas in the Donbas region of Ukraine, that's the stripe portion there that you see, is controlled by pro-Russian separatists and has substantial backing from Moscow for years.
But the separatists are claiming and Putin is recognizing all of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions as their territory, even though Ukraine sees it as Ukrainian and Ukraine controls two-thirds of it.
And now, as CNN's Alex Marquardt reports from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, officials are warning, a further invasion into the two-thirds of the Donbas region controlled by Ukraine, that could still be underway.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Kremlin is calling them peacekeepers. But that isn't convincing anyone that they couldn't soon do more. Putin didn't say when the troops would be deployed. The head of NATO said a further invasion is underway.
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Russia has been present in different covert operations in Donetsk and Luhansk for many, many years.
[16:20:02]
What we see now is additional Russian forth and troops moving in. And this makes the whole situation even more serious.
MARQUARDT: The Kremlin's recognition of the territories adds up to what could be with Crimea, essentially a land grab of 7 percent of Ukrainian territory. Vladimir Putin's long revisionist angry rant on Monday hardly mentioned the Donbas region but it certainly mentioned Ukraine.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukraine has never had a consistent tradition of being a true nation.
MARQUARDT: As a result, few think his campaign stops here. More than 150,000 Russian troops and a modern arsenal of weaponry still surround Ukraine on three sides. To the north in Belarus, the Russian presence is apparently open-ended.
There are fears also for Ukraine's southern coast on the Sea of Azov, thought to be a potential target for Putin to further connect illegally seized Crimea to Russia.
MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: They want to cut off more of the Azov Sea. Strategically, that's important for Russia as well as this romantic notion that Ukraine is really a Russian state, and it should have been all along.
MARQUARDT: And in Eastern Ukraine, that front line, the past eight years, has now suddenly changed, posing new dangers. The meandering unmarked, unrecognized frontier, the prospect of Ukrainian troops a few hundred meters from Russian troops. The rebel enclaves that are recognize are just one-third of the provinces they're in.
But Putin today said they believe the so-called republics can claim the rest of the land, an issue that will be worked out in talks between Kyiv and the Kremlin-backed separatists.
JULIA IOFFE, FOUNDING PARTNER AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Just last week they said they were withdrawing troops. It turns out they weren't. Putin said he wouldn't recognize these breakaway republics because it would violate the Minsk accords. He recognized the breakaway republics.
MARQUARDT: Some observers believe the Kremlin may even have much of eastern Ukraine in its sights, coming all the way hear to the Dnieper River which divides west and east Ukraine. It is one of the few natural barriers in what is a largely flat country.
With his announcement, Putin has essentially abandoned the Minsk agreement, a peace treaty that neither side respected which at least was plenty to keep heavy weapons well back from the front line.
Some officials and experts fear that Putin's next move could be fast and heavy. Others believe it will be incremental and gradual. Either way, designed to weaken the Kyiv government and expand Russia's reach.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT (on camera): And, Jake, Moscow has been trying to get Kyiv to negotiate with those pro-Russian separatists for years. Putin appears to believe that the threat of his Russian forces on Donbas, on the Donbas territory, will get President Zelensky to the table.
Meanwhile, we've heard from President Zelensky saying that in light of this Russian threat, that he will be calling up reservists. He said for now there is no need for a more general mobilization and he has continued, Jake, to downplay the Russian threat, saying just today, that he does not believe there will be an all-out war, that there will be no Russian escalation. Of course, Jake, his allies strongly disagree.
TAPPER: Alex Marquardt in Eastern Ukraine, thanks so much.
Let's talk about this with CNN's counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd. He's a former counterterrorism officer for the CIA and the FBI, as well as CNN's national security analyst Beth Sanner who served as the deputy director of national intelligence.
And, Phil, you just heard Alex say that some experts think Putin's next move militarily could be fast and heavy. Others say it is more likely to be incremental and gradual.
What do you think?
PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Boy, I'm going to lay some money on the table. I'd go with the second, incremental and gradual. I wouldn't put a lot of money on it, and the reason is pretty simple. Putin has already had the opportunity to do this. He's had forces massed for some time.
So, of course, you have to ask yourself the question, why hasn't he moved? The only answer I can come up with, Jake, is that he's getting what he wants already, that is the warning to the West that Europeans and American not to keep NATO east and not to absorb Georgia. It's been heard loud and clear in countries like Germany and United States. Any American president who contemplates expanding NATO into Ukraine knows the consequences.
Is that enough for Putin? I don't know. But I think at least he has to be thinking that he's making gains already without going deep entire Ukraine, Jake.
TAPPER: Beth, take listen to the NATO secretary general today who said that a further invasion is already underway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STOLTENBERG: Every indication is that Russia continues to plan for a full-scale attack on Ukraine. We see the ongoing military build-up. They promised to step back but they have continued to step up.
[16:25:04]
We see that more and more the forces are moving out of the camps and are in combat formations and ready to strike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So we're also hearing this from officials in the Biden administration. How does the intelligence community makes such an assessment? Is it solely based on satellite imagery showing troop movement?
BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No, it's not. It's a combination of things.
So, one of the things I'm looking at is not just that the troops are in combat formation, which actually is really important, because they can't stay out of the camps indefinitely. But I'm also looking at things like tomorrow is the Defenders of the Fatherland's Day in Moscow. We haven't talked about that. But that's like Veterans Day on steroids in Russia.
Today is the anniversary of what Putin calls a coup, when he is pro- Russian president in Ukraine fled the country. It's what Ukrainians call liberation.
So, there's a lot of context we'll look at when we're considering when to do something. And I would just add to that, taking the Donbas, even the extended portion of it, I do not believe is enough. It is not about just NATO membership. It's about creating a vassal state.
So he has to take down the government. He has to do a lot more. So, I don't know whether it will be incremental or fast, but there's more to come.
TAPPER: And, Phil, Moscow said it would send what they're calling peacekeepers, I suspect ironically to the two separatist controlled regions. So far, there's not much of a sign of them, we're told.
How does one go about tracking their movement? Is that also basically done with satellite imagery, or is it human intelligence?
MUDD: Oh, heck, no. There's a lot of pieces you're going to look at here. You mentioned satellite imagery, which got a lot better over the years. You're also tracking communications. You don't have to read communications, Jake, the body of them, to know, are they increasing in intensity? Are they increasing in urgency?
You got to assume as well that we have a good partnership with Ukrainians on the ground, and the security service in the military. There's a lot of cross communication with people in the occupied zones. What are they getting in terms of communications? What are family members saying?
So, I think there's a lot of information you can get beyond what you can see in the newspapers, that is satellite imagery on the ground. There's a ton of stuff.
TAPPER: And, Beth, we're learning U.S. Special Forces left Ukraine. They were in the country training their Ukrainian counterparts but their last mission we're told was escorting U.S. embassy personnel to Poland last night.
Do you suspect there's other special operatives in Ukraine right now, U.S. ones?
SANNER: I have no idea. Honestly. I have no idea.
TAPPER: Phil, this morning, Putin berated the head of Russia's foreign intelligence --
MUDD: I'll vote yes on that, Jake.
(LAUGHTER)
SANNER: Yes, I'm closer --
TAPPER: That's how I took it, too.
Phil, this morning, Putin berated the head of Russia's foreign intelligence service. He did this in front of cameras. He seemed to be hesitating, the head of the foreign intelligence service, over the matter of whether the separatist led regions in the Donbas in general, should be incorporated into Russia. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY NARYSHKIN, RUSSIAN FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE DIRECTOR (through translator): I would agree that our Western partners can be given one last chance. Otherwise we must make the decision we are talking about today.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What do you mean otherwise? Do you propose to start the negotiation process?
NARYSHKIN: No, I --
PUTIN: Or recognize the sovereignty of the republics?
NARYSHKIN: I -- I --
PUTIN: Say it plainly --
NARYSHKIN: I -- I'll support the proposal on recognition.
PUTIN: You will support or you support? Speak directly, Sergey Yevgenyevich.
NARYSHKIN: I support the proposal to --
PUTIN: Just say it, yes or no.
NARYSHKIN: So, I am saying I support the proposal to admit Donetsk and Luhansk's People Republic into the Russian Federation.
PUTIN: We're not talking about it. We're not discussing it. We're talking about recognizing their independence or not.
NARYSHKIN: Yes, I support the proposal to recognize independence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: This is like something out of a James Bond movie.
Phil, what did you make of the exchange?
MUDD: I think it's important for Americans to understand how profound this is for the Russians. This is not a foreign policy Russia. This is how Russians identify themselves and the failure over the decline of the Soviet Union.
They watched the United States own them for 30 years. They watched as -- security with the United States, European allies moved towards Moscow, and Vladimir Putin, a KGB officer said no more.
That interview tells you all you need to know. This is not going to happen anymore. We are back. Don't oppose me.
I thought it was really interesting.
TAPPER: Beth, what did you think?
[16:30:02]
SANNER: I think it also shows -- I agree with everything Phil said as usual, but I think it shows how Putin runs everything. I mean, there is no independent intelligence service in Moscow, in Russia.
These people are not giving him good information. They are giving him, as you saw, exactly what he wants to hear. And that's a very dangerous place for us, because, you know, Putin doesn't really know probably what's going on in the ground. There could be quite a bit of miscalculation because of this.
TAPPER: Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. We're going to squeeze in a quick break.
If you're seeing soaring gas prices, brace yourself. How Putin's invasion could pump up prices more. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back. Any moment, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the foreign
minister of Ukraine are expected to address reporters at the U.S. State Department.
CNN's Kylie Atwood is live for us there.
Kylie, what are we expecting to hear from these two top diplomats?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, the main question that we are still searching for an answer to is will Secretary of State Tony Blinken be meeting with his Russian counterpart for Minister Lavrov later this week? That was a meeting that was scheduled to take place Thursday, but we heard U.S. officials say if there was an invasion that wouldn't take place, and of course, today, we've heard from top Biden administration officials including the president himself saying that an invasion has begun.
So, theoretically that should indicate this meeting is off, but they haven't officially said that. They haven't officially as far as we know yet cancelled that meeting.
So we're waiting for an answer to that. Specifically President Biden said in his remarks earlier that he still hopes diplomacy can go on here, but he also made it very clear that the Biden administration shifted its approach here.
[16:35:06]
It is implementing these costs that it has promised on Russia, these sanctions going after Russian sovereign debt, going after Russian elites and the like, and they're also holding on to other options to crank up those costs. So we're seeing a pivot away from diplomacy and towards the implementation of cost, but we're waiting to see what Secretary Blinken says.
The Ukrainian foreign minister also met today with the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. He met at the White House with President Biden, so he has been all around town making it very clear from the Biden administration's standpoint that they stand next to the Ukrainians. Despite of course what is happening in Ukraine, they still believe that the Ukrainians are our closest ally and they are going stand with them.
So a question here also to watch is what the Ukrainian foreign minister says in this press conference. We know that they have been assured to see the forceful statements that we have heard from President Biden today. He came out and he was very clear in saying that a Russian invasion has begun into Ukraine.
TAPPER: Right. Now, of course, Russian troops have been in the separatist controlled parts of Donbas for the last eight years. The Biden administration just thinks what happened today is just basically taking the mask off and acknowledging it.
The Biden administration, there are at least two officials I spoke with earlier today. They say the real difference is Putin declaring these two independent states, the entirety of Donbas, not just the one-third of it controlled by the Russian-backed separatists, that's what they consider to be the line that he crossed, right?
ATWOOD: Yeah. They believe that that was significant. He also, of course, authorized Russian troops to activate outside of the country, not just in potentially, you know, those separatist areas, but beyond that. And so that is viewed as the green light here.
U.S. officials knew that Russia could potentially declare those eastern Ukraine regions as independent, but what they are looking for, as you say, Jake, is for the Russians to likely go further, and we have heard from President Biden earlier today that Russia is clearly prepared to do so. He was saying that you don't put blood on the borders of Ukraine unless you're planning to really go in.
So we've heard U.S. officials explain that they do expect a full invasion is going to happen, and they want Ukraine to be prepared for that. The question now is, what is the diplomatic out, if there is one? Is there a Hail Mary that the United States can throw at Russia, or do they feel they've put all the cards on the table diplomatically?
TAPPER: We're still waiting for the U.S. foreign minister and state of state to come out and address reporters at the State Department. President Biden earlier today announced sanctions against Russia, the sanctions target two of Russia's main financial institutions as well as Russian elites and their family members close to the Kremlin. President Biden saying he's also going to cut Russia off from western financing.
I want to bring in CNN's Nic Robertson in Moscow.
And, Nic, we know Russia has been preparing for tough economic , building up a reserve of cash, so how much will today's announcement hurt Putin?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: In the short-term it seems to be something he can withstand. Ever since he invaded Ukraine in 2014, annexed Crimea, and then in less than a year, he started facing U.S. sanction, European Union sanctions, other sanctions, he recognized that he needed to build this rainy day fund and accelerated it, 2017, '18, '19.
He's estimated to have about $680 billion in that fund at the moment. Central Bank said they could protect the country from some of the sanctions that they knew would be coming. The targeting of those oligarchs that are close to President Putin, that's one way to get the message to him, but Putin seems to be the sort of guy who's really put his name, his persona, his vision on what he wants to achieve in Ukraine, and he's quite happy to see friends fall by the wayside.
Look at the way he dealt with some of his security officials just yesterday, dressing them down. Imagine you're an oligarch that goes to Putin and says, my kids are getting kicked out of school in the U.K. I can't go London and eat at the fancy restaurants. You got help me out here, back off on what you're trying to achieve in Ukraine. It's President Putin who's been on national TV with his vision of the future, his vision of Ukraine as part of Russia. It's hard to see Putin really taking the pain of some oligarchs who he can hand out some cash to get them out of some plights.
But it's hard to see him taking their payment, translate that into backing down. Of course there are oligarchs who help shelter his cash around the world, but it's an estimated built up vast, vast financial reserves in Russia as well.
It's unlikely that he's going to feel personally the touch of the sanctions. The key is, can it cripple the country so much in the future? And that seems to be a very, very slow burn, and we're not close to it so far, Jake.
TAPPER: And, Nic, we're waiting to here if the meeting for Thursday between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, if that is still on. It seems quite possible Blinken will announce at this press conference we're waiting for that he is not going to participate.
Do you think Putin cares?
ROBERTSON: You know, I think we kind of got an answer to this certainly if not over the weekend, really earlier on today. The French prime minster said, Emmanuel Macron -- last-minute diplomacy to try to find a way out of getting Putin to stop before he started taking these initial moves of recognizing these separatists in Donbas. The French prime minister said, Macron didn't achieve much of what he set out to achieve.
Let's go back to the weekend. What did Putin say about the phone calls? He said, you know, Macron called me and said, you should take a meeting with President Biden. And I said to Macron, this was Putin speaking, I said to Macron, so what are you going give me? What's on the table? What's President Biden going to give me? And Putin answered the question by saying, Macron couldn't tell me. He said maybe this could be worked out between Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
But I think what we're seeing here is anything that could have been put on the table in those last-ditch conversations over the weekend wasn't even there. There's nothing really that would seem to be available to build a narrative, a diplomatic off-ramp narrative around. Putin today killed off the Minsk talks. He said that they're dead.
The chance of diplomacy at the moment doesn't seem to be within reach, and that's a very sad and desperate state of affairs to be in. I think we're in that phase where it's talk for the sake of talking if you can talk, but I don't think there's a comprehensive idea of what it is can now bridge this gap.
TAPPER: Yeah, I don't really see much of an off-ramp. Here's Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as the Ukrainian foreign minister. They're at the U.S. State Department. Let's listen in. ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Good afternoon, everyone.
Since Foreign Minister Kuleba and I were in Munich just a few days ago, Russia's aggression toward Ukraine and its rejection of international law and diplomacy have accelerated.
Yesterday, President Putin recognized the so-called independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, where violent Russian- backed separatists have been fighting a war since 2014. A few hours later, he gave authorization to Russian troops to enter those regions.
For weeks, we've been warning the world that Russia was mobilizing for military aggression against Ukraine. We've made clear that if Russia invaded, the United States and our allies and partners would impose swift and severe consequences. Now that Russia has moved against Ukraine, so, too, have we moved on our strong and unified response.
This afternoon, the President announced the first round of sanctions on Russia in response to its actions. These have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners. We'll continue to escalate our sanctions if Russia escalates its aggression toward Ukraine.
Today, we're implementing full blocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions, VEB and Promsvyazbank, both of which have close links to the Kremlin and the Russian military.
Collectively, they hold more than $80 billion in assets. These measures will freeze their assets in the United States, prohibit American individuals or businesses from doing any transactions with them, shut them out of the global financial system, and foreclose access to the U.S. dollar.
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We're expanding our existing sanctions on Russian sovereign debt. We've already prohibited U.S. financial institutions from trading in Russian sovereign debt in the primary market; now we're extending that prohibition to the secondary market. These prohibitions will cut off the Russian Government from a key avenue by which it raises capital to fund its priorities and will increase future financing costs. They also deny Russia access to key U.S. markets and investors.
Starting today, we'll impose sanctions on members of the Russian elite and their family members, all of whom directly benefit from their connections with the Kremlin. Other Russian elites and their family members are on notice that additional actions could be taken against them.
These steps are in addition to the executive order President Biden issued yesterday to prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by Americans to, from, and in the so-called DNR and LNR regions.
And just as the President said we would do, today the Department of Defense announced that we would be sending additional forces to NATO's eastern flank to deter and defend against any Russian aggression directed at our allies. We also made clear that if Russia invaded Ukraine, we would act with Germany to ensure that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline does not move forward. Today, Chancellor Scholz announced that the German Government is suspending the pipeline indefinitely. We've been in close consultation with Germany throughout this process. We welcome this swift and decisive and action. And we're executing a plan in close coordination with allies and partners to secure the stability of global energy supplies, which is in all of our interests.
The United States and our allies and partners are united in the face of Russian aggression. This morning, the European Union and the United Kingdom announced a series of strong complementary actions.
President Putin's deeply disturbing speech yesterday and his statements today make clear to the world how he views Ukraine: not as a sovereign nation with the right to territorial integrity and independence, but rather as a creation of Russia, and therefore subordinate to Russia. It's a completely false assertion that ignores history, international law, and the tens of millions of patriotic Ukrainians who are proud citizens of a free and independent Ukraine.
Now that we've heard it directly from President Putin himself, it confirms what we've been saying: that he did not send more than 150,000 troops to the Ukrainian border because of benign military exercises, or to respond to threatened aggression from Ukraine, or to stop a fabricated genocide by Ukraine, or any other manufactured reason.
His plan all along has been to invade Ukraine; to control Ukraine and its people; to destroy Ukraine's democracy, which offers a stark contrast to the autocracy that he leads; to reclaim Ukraine as a part of Russia.
That's why this is the greatest threat to security in Europe since World War II. Ukraine is in danger. President Putin is blatantly and violently breaking the laws and principles that have kept the peace across Europe and around the world for decades.
Yesterday, at an emergency session of the UN Security Council requested by Ukraine, the United States and many other countries condemned Russia's renewed attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity as a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield underscored that President Putin has now torn to shreds the Minsk Agreements, which sought to end the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine peacefully, through diplomacy. President Putin himself essentially declared those agreements null and void.
The complete abdication of Russia's commitments under the Minsk Agreements is just the latest demonstration of Russia's hypocrisy when it comes to the agreements that it claims to seek and to uphold. Since the beginning of this Russian-manufactured crisis, Moscow has insisted that only legally binding agreements could satisfy its security concerns. But the Minsk Agreements now join a long line of agreements, many legally binding, that President Putin has broken. These include the Helsinki Final Act, in which all OSCE countries, including Russia, pledged to respect national sovereignty and territorial integrity and refrain from the threat of the use of force; the Charter of Paris, which further established countries' responsibilities to honor those pledges; the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, which limits the deployment of military equipment in Europe; the Vienna Document, in which all OSCE countries, including Russia, agreed to confidence-and security-building measures to increase transparency and predictability about their military activities; and of course, the Budapest Memorandum, in which Russia promised to respect Ukraine's independence and sovereignty in its 1994 borders and refrain from using force against Ukraine.
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In the past 24 hours alone, with his actions toward Ukraine, President Putin has violated all of these agreements. He is undoing more than 30 years' worth of painstaking diplomacy by Russia and the countries and institutions of Europe and the North Atlantic region to preserve stability and security for the sake of hundreds of millions of our citizens.
Every time Russia breaks one of these agreements, it not only endangers the countries that it's threatening at the time, but nations everywhere that have been made safer and more secure by the international rules-based order.
Last week, I agreed to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week on February 24th to discuss our countries' respective concerns about European security, but only if Russia did not invade Ukraine. Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time. I consulted with our allies and partners, all agree, and today I sent Foreign Minister Lavrov a letter informing him of this.
The United States, and I personally, remain committed to diplomacy if Russia is prepared to take demonstrable steps to provide the international community with any degree of confidence that it's serious about de-escalating and finding a diplomatic solution. We will proceed, in coordination with allies and partners, based on Russia's actions and the facts on the ground. But we will not allow Russia to claim the pretense of diplomacy at the same time it accelerates its march down the path of conflict and war.
There is no question what has happened here. We've all seen how Russia has relentlessly mobilized for war despite intensive efforts by others, including the United States, to engage them on a diplomatic path. We've seen through their false flags; we've predicted their lies. In the hours and days ahead, any further escalatory steps by Russia will be met with further swift and severe measures, coordinated with allies and partners, on top of those announced today.
We'll continue to stand with our allies and partners to support Ukraine as it faces Russia's threats with courage and strength. And we'll continue to defend the international laws that keep every country in the world safe from the kind of aggression that Russia is now inflicting upon Ukraine.
Dmytro?
DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I'm grateful to Secretary Blinken for welcoming me in D.C. today.
We - I think we spoke -- this is our third or fourth encounter in the last four days, and this speaks for the dynamics and the quality of our relationship, but also for the urgency of the current crisis that needs to be handled. We meet at a very tense and responsible time for Ukraine, for the United States, and for the world.
We all are at a critical juncture for the security of Europe, as well as international peace and security more broadly. Russian aggression has brought the world to the edge of the largest catastrophe since World War II.
Yesterday, President Putin moved to recognize two pieces of Ukrainian land as independent entities. Ukraine does not and will never recognize this absurdity, neither will the world recognize it. In fact, what Putin recognized is not the so-called Donetsk People Republic and Luhansk People Republic. He recognized his direct responsibility for the war against Ukraine and an unprovoked and unjustified war on another sovereign state in Europe, which Russia now intensifies.
President Putin killed Minsk Agreements, and more broadly, he attacked the world order. Needless to say, Russia's move is a grave breach of international law and a new act of aggression against Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Therefore, Ukraine strongly believes the time for sanctions is now, and in this context we welcome today's announcement of sanctions by President Biden.
The world must respond with all its economic might to punish Russia for the crimes it has already committed and ahead of the crimes it plans to commit. Hit Russia's economy now and hit it hard.
I commend immense efforts of the U.S. diplomacy led by Tony to mobilize the global coalition of allies and partners to stop Russia.
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The entire world stands today with Ukraine, and rightly so. Putin wants much more than a war-torn piece of Ukrainian land and people living there. What stops him is only our unity and resolve, and we can still stop him.
Ukraine continues the engagement with the United States, EU, and NATO in diplomatic efforts to ease tensions. Yet, we also stand ready for any possible development. We had a focused discussion today with Secretary Blinken on steps to protect Ukraine and our multi- dimensional resilience.
One of the -- proposal that we put forward today is designing a program similar to the Lend-Lease implemented during the World War II to support the war efforts of the Allies in Eastern -- in east -- in Europe. This program will help to ensure sustainable -- sustainability and will improve efficiency in the -- in strengthening the capacity of Ukraine to defend itself.
The last point that I would like to make: Today we discussed some very specific ideas, and we appreciate very concrete steps made by the United States. These days we receive proposals from some countries to condemn Russia's behavior, to condemn but not follow the condemnation with action.
And I would like to say that condemnations are important, but it's actions that really matter now, these days. And I am grateful to our strategic partner, the United States, for its ironclad support, including military, economic, and political diplomatic assistance provided to Ukraine. The Ukrainian people will surely remember the United States standing with Ukraine at this decisive moment in history.
Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll now turn to questions and we'll take two from each delegation.
We'll start with Vivian Salama of "The Wall Street Journal".
VIVIAN SALAMA, REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Thank you very much.
Mr. Secretary, President Biden said three days ago that if Russia invades, they will have chosen war and the door to diplomacy will be closed. Today, however, he seemed to have left the door open for diplomacy despite labeling what Russia has done as an invasion. And so, even though you've now canceled your meeting with Minister Lavrov, can you say what the circumstances would entail to justify talks at this point absent, say, a full withdrawal? Does the actions in Donbas kind of open the door for potential negotiations?
And on that point, if you would both indulge me with two questions, President Putin today also said that the crisis could be resolved if Kyiv promised to abandon future efforts to join NATO, and so that's been a nonstarter for the West. So what needs to happen, then, for any of these talks to actually be entertained?
Minister Kuleba, good to see you again.
Quick questions for you. Does the Ukrainian Government have any plans to evacuate Mariupol or Kharkiv in the coming days just given the events that we've seen in Donbas? And secondly, the United States has informed the United Nations of a credible -- of credible information showing that Moscow has compiled a list of Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation.
Were you informed of this list -- your government, was it informed of this list -- and have any actions been taken to respond to it? Thank you.
BLINKEN: Thank you. I'm happy to start.
First, the further renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine that has now begun means clearly that the idea of having a meeting this week with Foreign Minister Lavrov to pursue diplomacy, diplomacy now rejected by Russia, does not make sense. But, having said that, to the extent there is anything that we can do to avert an even worse-case scenario, an all-out assault on all of Ukraine, including its capital, that would inflict horrific costs on the Ukrainian people, we will always pursue that.
So, we, our partners, remain open to diplomacy, but Moscow needs to demonstrate that it's serious. The last 24 hours, it's demonstrated just the opposite. It hasn't been serious to date, including with regard to the meeting that was planned for Thursday.
