Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Obama Speaks Live on Crisis in Ukraine; Interview with Sen. John Barrasso

Aired March 17, 2014 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So real action is going to be taken here. The question has been though, since the crisis began, will this be a real impact. Well administration officials said today that these are real actions. It is sending a message and they pointed to harm already that they believe Russia has suffered -- the stock market dropping, the ruble falling in relation to the U.S. dollar.

So I think they sort of wanted to preempt criticism of people who have been saying is this enough? Or Russia doesn't seem to really care much do they. But a U.S. administration officials made clear just now that this sends a message that real action is being taken. They believe that it does impose a cost on Russia. And that this action will continue and grow in its severity as Russia continues.

COSTELLO: All right. Michelle Kosinski, stand by. I appreciate that.

Joining me now, Senator John Barrasso. Welcome, sir.

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R), WYOMING: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: You just visited Ukraine and a delegation of bipartisan senators led by John McCain. Do you think these sanctions go far enough?

BARRASSO: It is a good first step, Carol. Vladimir Putin only respects strength and power. And I don't think he has made a final decision about what he is going to do. He's continuing to calculate the credibility of the opposition by the United States and our partners around the world to his actions. He continues to have troops lining the border of eastern Ukraine and I believe he is ready to pounce if he sees the opportunity to do so.

COSTELLO: But that sort of seems like what he's doing right now. Because the Russian troops certainly aren't retreating from Crimea. They are overtaking some gas facilities. So they seem to be settling in.

BARRASSO: Well that's exactly right. The first thing they did even before the vote while we were still in Ukraine Saturday night, they seized a gas facility in southern Ukraine. There were riots in the streets in Donetsk which I believe were agitated by Russian thugs who came in there so then Putin could move troops in to say he was there to keep the peace. There are Marines from the Ukraine still surrounded in the Crimea, in Feodosia, 600 who potentially could be massacred by the Russians. Putin I believe is still making calculations on a daily basis. We need to continue to up the price of his activities through additional pressures, economic sanctions and anything else we can do to bring world pressure and specifically with our support for the people of the Ukraine.

COSTELLO: So if Vladimir Putin continues, right, he progresses in Ukraine, what is the next step for the United States besides sanctions? Would it be arming the military in Ukraine? Would it be money? Would it be something else?

BARRASSO: Talking with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk while we were there, he absolutely needs help rebuilding the military. Yanukovych, the former president, has weakened the military to the point the Prime Minister said, we don't have anything that runs, that shoots or that flies. So they're going to need specific help in rebuilding their military strength and specifically along that eastern border between Ukraine and Russia and we should be part of that solution.

COSTELLO: Senator John Barrasso thank you so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

BARRASSO: Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And we'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Joining me now is Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Wolf, President Obama in just a couple of minutes is going to come out and make some sort of statement on Russia and the Ukraine and these new sanctions that the President is going to put into place by executive order to punish Russia for what it's done in the Crimea.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": And it's a significant move because it comes immediately after this so-called referendum that occurred yesterday in which almost 97 people percent of the people who voted, voted that Crimea should become a part of Russia. It has deeply irritated the United States and the Eastern and the Western European countries the EU and others around the world and the U.S. is ready to take steps. The Europeans are ready to take steps as well.

These are initial steps that I'm sure they will be ratcheted up as time goes on but it does send a powerful signal to Moscow, to President Putin that the United States together with the European allies they are ready to take sanctions, to take steps to underscore the anger that the U.S. feels. That the Ukraine's sovereignty has been undermined and they see this referendum as a violation of international law. And they are ready to take steps.

These are relatively modest steps. They could be ratcheted up down the road. We'll see how far the Europeans are ready to go because if the sanctions get too tough on the Russians, the Russians will retaliate and that they will be oil shipments, gas shipments that will stop flowing to the Europeans and they've got 30 percent, 40 percent of their -- of their energy resources from Russia.

So these are potentially significant developments.

COSTELLO: So -- so the President is going to impose sanctions on 11 governmental officials and others in Russia. Tell us how that makes things difficult for President Putin.

BLITZER: Well these are people that would normally be welcomed in Europe, in the United States, around the world. And it's going to make it difficult for them to travel. It's also potentially going to open up the door to freezing assets. It is going to undermine Russia's movement towards a greater economic growth, if you will because these are very influential folks in Russia.

Now, has the President imposed travel restrictions on the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin or the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov? Not yet. That hasn't happened.

But these are significant steps in and of themselves because it'll send a powerful signal, a political signal for folks in Russia, the oligarchs, others who are -- other folks who have a lot of influence there that if this situation continues to deteriorate, your wealth your economic well-being that will suffer in the process. The value of the Russian currency will go down, the stock markets in Russia will go down. So this is potentially a punitive measure that will have some impact.

COSTELLO: All right, Wolf standby. I've got to take a break. We'll be back with much more on the situation unfolding in Ukraine and in the United States and of course on that missing Malaysian jetliner.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We'll get back to the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Malaysian airliner shortly.

But there's huge breaking news developing here in Washington, D.C. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. Once again we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

Momentarily, the President of the United States, President Barack Obama will walk into the briefing room and announce major new sanctions being imposed on Russian officials -- top Russian officials and others whom the United States believes were complicit in this what the U.S. regards as this illegal referendum that took place yesterday in Crimea, a referendum that resulted in about 96 percent -- 97 percent of a those who turned out voting that Crimea should actually be part of Russia.

Let's go to our White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski. Michelle this was announced shortly that the President would make these statements, the White House did release a formal statement of identifying what 11 top Russian officials and other officials who are being sanctioned by the United States.

KOSINSKI: Right and remember there were sanctions issued in the past few weeks. The first time around it identified people who were viewed by the U.S. government as contributing to basically the destabilization of Ukraine. And four individuals were identified under that but not really identified fully until now.

Now, this new executive order, basically, expands the sanctions. And the pool from which they will draw now and in the future will be -- will include Russian government officials, arms dealers and people seen as contributing to those individuals. And the people who are named specifically in this new executive order, there are seven in number. So a total of 11 people between the two executive orders issuing sanctions that have since been announced. Among the people that were named today, include an aide and an advisor to Russian President Putin, deputies in the Russian parliament.

And I know a question is raised over and over again when sanctions come up why not name President Vladimir Putin? And today a senior White House officials they explain that saying that it would be an extraordinary action, very unusual for the U.S. to impose sanctions on the head of a government.

So they are not taking that step now. They did say though, that this sends a clear message to those involved in the activities in Ukraine and Crimea. And in fact it bars Americans from doing business with these people. And that this will continue. The sanctions will expand. And it really sort of lays the ground work also for expanding sanctions if the Russian course continues -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It's interesting and you make a good point because among these 11 people, who have been named in this White House press release that was put out Vladislav Surkov. Surkov is being sanctioned for his status as a presidential aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sergey Glazyev, Glazyev is being sanctioned for his status as a presidential advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

KOSINSKI: Right and also.

BLITZER: Yes I was going to say top aides to Putin are being sanctioned right now. The obvious question why not Putin himself? And your answer is U.S. officials are not ready to take that drastic step.

KOSINSKI: Right and they wanted to make clear that these are key political players they said and cronies. They used the word cronies several times. That these are people are close to Vladimir Putin. They really wanted to emphasize that. That this is sort of hitting at the heart of Russian government and the action that has been taken.

But some of the people who are not named on the new executive order who are included in the prior rounds of sanctions include the former president, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, as well as the acting prime minister of Crimea. And today, the EU sanctioned individuals as well -- 21 of them. Well you might think ok so in total now the U.S. has sanctioned 11 people. If the U.S. is so much in coordination with the EU on all of this as the cord has continued, why would those lists be so different?

Well officials said that they are very well coordinated and that these lists overlap. But with so many governments contributing together with the European Union, they had some categories of sanctions that the U.S. hasn't really tackled yet but could in coming days.

BLITZER: Yes one of those listed as you point out Victor Yanukovych the Ukraine, the former Ukrainian President who has now sought refuge and has received refuge in Russia.

In the statement, the White House says that Yanukovych is being designated for threatening the peace, security, sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine and for undermining Ukraine's democratic institutions and processes. After abandoning Kiev and ultimately fleeing to Russia, Yanukovych called upon Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to send Russian troops into Ukraine. So his name very much on the list -- so that's a significant development.

Here is the President right now.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning, everybody.

In recent months, the citizens of Ukraine have made their voices heard. We have been guided by a fundamental principle. The future of Ukraine must be decided by the people of Ukraine. That means Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected and international law must be upheld. Russia's decision to send troops into Crimea has rightly drawn local condemnation.

From the start, the United States has mobilized the international community in support of Ukraine to isolate Russia for its actions and to reassure our allies and partners. We saw this international unity again over the weekend when Russia stood alone in the U.N. Security council defending its actions in Crimea.

As I told President Putin yesterday, the referendum in Crimea was a clear violation of Ukrainian constitutions and international law. It will not be recognized by the international community.

Today, I'm announcing a series of measures that will continue to increase the cost on Russia and on those responsible for what is happening in Ukraine. First, as authorized by the executive order I signed two weeks ago, we are imposing sanctions on specific individuals responsible for undermining the sovereignty, territorial integrity and government of Ukraine. We are making it clear that there are consequences for their actions.

Second, I have signed a new executive order that expands the scope of our sanctions. As an initial step, I'm authorizing sanctions on Russian officials, entities operating in the armed sector in Russia and individuals who provide material support to senior officials of the Russian government. If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions.

Third, we're continuing our close consultations with our European partners who today in Brussels moved ahead with their own sanctions against Russia.

Tonight, Vice President Biden departs for Europe where he will meet with leaders of our NATO allies, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And I'll be traveling to Europe next week. Our message will be clear. As NATO allies, we have a solemn commitment to our collected defense and we will uphold this commitment.

Fourth, we'll continue to make clear to Russia that further provocations will achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world. The international community will continue to stand together to oppose any violations in Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity and continued Russian military intervention in Ukraine will only deepen Russia's diplomatic isolation and exact a greater toll on the Russian economy.

Going forward, we can calibrate our response based on whether Russia chooses to escalate or to deescalate the situation.

Now, I believe there is still a path to resolve this situation diplomatically in a way that addresses the interest of both Russia and Ukraine. That includes Russia pulling its forces in Crimea back to their bases, supporting the deployment of additional international monitors in Ukraine and engaging in dialogue with the Ukrainian government, which has indicated its openness to pursuing constitutional reforms as they move forward towards elections this spring.

But throughout this process, we are going to stand firm in our unwavering support for Ukraine. As I told Prime Minister Yatsenyuk last week, the United States stands with the people of Ukraine and their right to determine their own destiny. We're going to keep working with Congress and our international partners to offer Ukraine the economic support that it needs to weather this crisis and to improve the daily lives of the Ukrainian people.

And as we go forward, we'll continue to look at the range of ways we can help our Ukrainian friends achieve their universal rights and the security, prosperity and dignity that they deserve.

Thanks very much. In any event, we will be available for questioning. Thank you.

BLITZER: So there is the President of the United States making a normal announcement in the White House briefing room outlining a series of steps to try to punish Russia for its move into Ukraine, specifically into Crimea to hold this referendum yesterday, and to make it clear that the United States and the European allies will not recognize this move by the Russians in Crimea.

Let's -- Michelle Kosinski is our White House correspondent. I'll go to you in a moment. Christiane Amanpour is standing by. Christiane, your quick reaction to these dramatic developments. CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a coordinated effort by the United States and Europe now to show as they were going to show on Monday after the referendum that there will be punitive measures.

He has listed, the President, 11 individuals and he's said why they've chosen those individuals. The EU plans, we understand, to target 21 individuals, all of whom are related to what they call violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine; in other words, being involved in this referendum, including the so-called prime minister of Crimea.

Now very importantly, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has taken the lead in trying to move forward diplomatically with President Putin, has become much, much tougher as President Putin continues his military and other designs on Crimea.

So that is really important, that Europe stands pretty stalwart now in realizing that this poses a big threat to Europe as the Germans are saying right now and that they need to be confronted, obviously, not militarily - that is not on the table -- but definitely economically and diplomatically. And they believe economically, it will hurt given time.

BLITZER: Yes. And this is just step one. The President makes it clear, he's ready to ratchet up these sanctions if this continues -- stalemate continues. Phil Black is in Moscow. How are these sanctions by the U.S. and Europeans likely to be received by the Russian leadership of President Putin -- Phil?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There will be retaliation, Wolf. No doubt about that. It is just a question of how long we have to wait for them and to what extent the retaliation is equal or perhaps greater. Russia often talks about coming back asymmetrically towards the sort of sanctions coming back and hitting harder -- perhaps coming back at the other side from a completely different direction.

What is clear from this list put out by the U.S. administration today is that it is a list of the influential, not the most powerful. There is still room here to escalate and to hit people of even greater importance with the Russian system.

That said, there are some key systems here. Two names stand out quickly, one the name at the top of the list, Ladislav Sirkov. He is a man often referred to as the great cardinal, a man who is said to have been the chief architect of Putin's whole of managed democracy -- the system to which Putin has managed to political life in this country for the last 40 years or so.

There's another key figure, Dmitry Rogozin who is a deputy prime minister, a former Russian ambassador to NATO, a nationalist figure, a man who is now responsible for Russia's defense industry. And as such has key ties to defense and security services in this country. He is influential but he is also significantly powerful as well.

So this is a first shot. It is a significant one but it is targeting influential figures within the regime, more so than those that wield direct influence within those closest to Vladimir Putin himself. Wolf?

Now, we will see how the Russians, as you point out, retaliate for these U.S. and European sanctions.

Let's go to Crimea right now. Nick Paton Walsh is on the ground for us on this day after the referendum. What's it like there today -- Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, I don't think what we just heard from the White House will change the course of what's occurring in Crimea. Swift parliamentary decision after yesterday's remarkably predictable referendum vote to join the federation that it (inaudible) and appealed to Vladimir Putin to make that the case and incorporate them into the Russian federation.

I suppose what we can see coming out of the White House today is a possible avenue for de-escalation here. Remember when John Kerry met Sergei Lavrov in London on Friday, he was clear that Vladimir Putin could still decide not to incorporate Crimea into Russia. It may be as he hinted then that another wave of sanctions again perhaps still worth pointing out -- the actually key decision makers could come at the latest day.

This list you have seen, the seven there, the people influential within Russian society, but they are not the inner coterie, they're not the security services heads. The former KGG agent Sergei Ivanov, he's Putin's chief of staff. Now (inaudible) Nikolai Patrushev, the former KGB head who is head of the national security council.

There are a lot of people there who still could be included. Plus also, there is no move against Russian business at this point. That is so heavily integrated and ground into the global economy. It really could be hurt if the U.S. decided to go after it. So I think what we are seeing today is an opening salvo rather than a full move. It has not had any real any impact to what they're seeing here in Crimea.

A delegation is heading to work on the practicalities of getting Crimea into Russia -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let me go back to Christiane Amanpour. Christiane -- the President announced that the Vice President Joe Biden, would be traveling to Europe to meet with the NATO allies in Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia. They're NATO allies but people they're pretty nervous about what's going on right now. They don't anticipate that the Russians would move against them but I understand he is basically going to reassure them of NATO support.

AMANPOUR: exactly. And don't forget, this is also an international show of support and diplomatic cohesion. You are absolutely right. Amongst the most outspoken against President Putin's move is the prime minister of Poland. They want a lot more help a lot of more support. They are saying, the Poles, that this is a definite potential if it goes any further. This is a threat to Europe's sovereignty and, indeed, its security and especially they're saying now -- and this obviously bit down the line. But the Germany and the rest of Europe's dependence on Russian gas and energy is also a threat to sovereignty. So they're very concerned in that part of the world -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let me bring in Michelle Kosinski over at the White House. Michelle, is there a timeline here? Because there is clearly an effort to ratchet up the pressure -- initial steps taken a week ago. Now, some more steps. They are clearly ready to move further down the road. Officials haven't given you any specific timeline or anything like that, have they?

KOSINSKI: No it's all been based on as the situation allows and as activities on the ground necessitate. You know, two weeks ago, we saw the initial round of sanctions against certain people who were then unnamed seen as destabilizing Ukraine. Now we see two weeks later, that has expanded some; so a total of 11 people now sanctioned by the U.S. What happens next, that is what we are waiting to see -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And we're waiting to see what the Russians do in retaliation. As Phil Black our correspondent in Moscow points, he fully anticipates, so do we, that there will be Russian retaliation.

All right. So there is breaking news out of the White House. Of course there's breaking news following the mystery surrounding the Malaysian Airliner Flight 370. We're going to continue our special coverage of that.

Much more coming up, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And welcome back. I'm Carol Costello.

With the search for the missing plane now on its tenth day families of the 239 people on board are desperate for answers. American Philip Wood is among those passengers. Wood and his partner Sarah Bajc (ph) had been planning on moving to Kuala Lumpur in the coming weeks and getting married.

Bajc told CNN's David McKenzie she believes Wood is still alive and is being held hostage somewhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH BAJC, PARTNER OF FLIGHT 370 PASSENGER: The entire U.S. population is reliving things like 9/11 in this experience, right. If an unthinkable thing can happen even after we've taken all of these precautions, what could happen next?

If there is anybody who can survive a situation like that it's him. He is very level-headed. And I think he is the kind of person who would help to calm a really chaotic situation.

Of course, I have to prepare for the worst, because no matter what, I still have to go forward. No matter what, his family still has to go forward. So we need to know where that fork in the road is going to go. We're not ready to take either branch but we have to know what's coming. Because otherwise, when it comes, you won't be prepared and that's when you get into trouble, I think. DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You need to be prepared for whatever the news is.

BAJC: My bag is packed and ready to go. It has been since Saturday morning.

MCKENZIE: Ready to go where?

BAJC: Wherever he is. My son even helped me pick out which clothes to bring for him. So I have an outfit for him in my backpack because he wouldn't want to wear his dirty old stuff anymore. I'm sure. He probably wouldn't want to wear a hospital gown if that's the case so, yes, it's all ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Just heartbreaking. We'll have much more on that missing jetliner in the next hour.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@ THIS HOUR" with Berman and Michaela starts now.