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Biden Addresses Escalating Crisis Between Russia-Ukraine; Biden: U.S. is Prepared No Matter What Happens in Ukraine. Aired 3:30- 4p ET

Aired February 15, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And it will be quick and will have a significant bite. So, those are the things the president has laid out clearly for weeks now.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, Phil, the president is stepping up now. Let's listen.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today I'd like to provide an update on the crisis involving Russia and Ukraine.

From the beginning of this crisis, I have been absolutely clear and consistent. The United States is prepared, no matter what happens. We are ready with diplomacy. To engage in diplomacy with Russia and our allies and partners to improve stability and security in Europe as a whole. And we are ready to respond decisively to Russian attack on Ukraine which is still very much a possibility.

But all the events of the last few weeks and months, this has been our approach and remains our approach now. So, today, I want to speak to the American people about the situation on the ground, the steps we've taken, the actions we're prepared to take and what the at stake for us and the world and how this may impact on us here at home.

For weeks now, together with our allies and partners, my administration has engaged in non-stop diplomacy. This weekend I spoke again with President Putin to make clear that we are ready to keep pursuing high level diplomacy, to reach written understandings among Russia, the United States and the nations of Europe to address legitimate security concerns if that's his wish. Their security concerns and ours.

President Putin and I agree that our team should continue to engage toward this end along with our European allies and partners. Yesterday, the Russian government public proposed to continue the diplomacy. I agree. We should give the diplomacy every chance to succeed. And I believe there are real ways to address our respective security concerns.

The United States has put on the table concrete ideas to establish a security environment in Europe. We're proposing new arms control measures, new transparency measures, new strategic stability measures. These measures apply to all party, NATO and Russia alike. And we're willing to make practical result-oriented steps that can advance our common security. We will not sacrifice basic principles, though.

Nations have a right to sovereignty and territorial integrity. They have the freedom to set their own course and choose with whom they will associate. But that still leaves plenty of room for diplomacy and for de-escalation. That's the best way forward for all parties, in our view.

We will continue our diplomatic effort and close consultation with our allies and our partners. As long as there is hope of diplomatic resolution that prevents the use force and avoids incredible human suffering that would follow, we will pursue it.

The Russian defense ministry reported today that some military units are leaving their positions near Ukraine. That would be good but we have not yet verified that. We have not yet verified the Russian military units are returning to their home bases. Indeed, our analyst indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position. And the fact remains right now Russia has more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine and Belarus and along Ukraine's border. And invasion remains distinctly possible.

That's why I've asked several times that all Americans in Ukraine leave now before it's too late to leave safely. It is why we have temporarily relocated our embassy from Kyiv to Lviv in western Ukraine approaching the Polish border. And we've been transparent with the American people and with the world about Russia's plans and the seriousness of the situation so that everyone can see for themselves what is happening. We have shared what we know and what we're doing about it.

Let me be equally clear about what we are not doing. The United States and NATO are not a threat to Russia. Ukraine is not threatening Russia. Neither the U.S. or NATO have missiles in Ukraine. We do not, do not have plans to put them there as well. We're not targeting the people of Russia. We do not seek to destabilize Russia.

To the citizens of Russia, you are not our enemy. And I do not believe you want a bloody, destructive war against Ukraine. A country and a people with whom you share such deep ties of family, history and culture.

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77 years ago, our people fought and sacrificed side by side to end the worst war in history. World War II was a war of necessity. But if Russia attacks Ukraine, it will be a war of choice or a war without cause or a reason. I say these things not to provoke but to speak the truth because the

truth matters. Accountability matters. If Russia does invade in the days and weeks ahead, the human cost for Ukraine will be immense. And the strategic cost for Russia will also be immense. If Russia attacks Ukraine, it will be met with overwhelming international condemnation. The world will not forget that Russia chose needless death and destruction. Invading Ukraine will prove to be self-inflicted wound.

The United States, our allies and partners will respond decisively. The West is united and galvanized. Today, our NATO allies and the alliance is as unified and determined as it has ever been. And the source of our unbreakable strength continues to be power, resilience and universal appeal of our shared democratic values.

Because this is about more than just Russia and Ukraine. It's about standing for what we believe in for the feature we want for our world. For liberty, the right of countries to choose their own destiny and the right of people to determine their own futures. For the principle that a country can't change its neighbors borders by force. That's our vision. And to that end I'm confident that vision, that freedom will prevail.

If Russia proceeds, we will rally the world who oppose its aggression. The United States and our allies and partners around the world are ready to impose powerful sanctions on export controls including actions that did not, we did not pursue when Russia invaded Crimea in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

We'll put intense pressure on their largest and most significant financial institutions and key industries. These measures are ready to go as soon as and if Russia moves. We'll impose long term consequences. We'll undermine Russia's ability to compete economically and strategically.

And when it comes to Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that will bring natural gas from Russia to Germany, if Russia further invades Ukraine, it will not happen. While I will not send American servicemen to fight in Ukraine, we have supplied the Ukrainian military with equipment to help them defend themselves. We provided training and advice and intelligence for the same purpose. And make no mistake, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power.

An attack against one NATO country is an attack against all of us. The United States commitment to Article Five is sacrosanct. Already response to Russia's buildup of troops, I've sent additional U.S. forces to bolster NATO's eastern flank. Several of our allies have also announced they'll add forces and capabilities to ensure deterrence and defense along NATO's eastern flank.

We'll also continue to conduct military exercises with our allies and partners to enhance defensive readiness. And if Russia invades, we'll take further steps to reenforce our presence in NATO. Reassurance for our allies and deter further aggression.

To be clear, if Russia decides to invade that will also have consequences here at home. But the American people understand that defending democracy and liberty is never without cost. This is a cause that united Republicans and Democrats. And I want to thank the leaders and members of Congress of both parties who forcefully spoken out in defense of our most basic, most bipartisan, most American principles.

I will not pretend this will be painless. There could be impact on our energy prices. So, we are taking active steps to alleviate the pressure on our own energy markets and offset raising prices. We're coordinating with major energy consumers and producers. We're prepared to deploy all the tools and authority at our disposal to provide relief at the gas pump. And I'll work with Congress on additional measures to help protect consumers and address the impact of prices at the pump.

[15:40:00]

We are not seek direct confrontation with Russia. Though I've been clear that if Russia targets Americans in Ukraine, we will respond forcefully. And if Russia attacks the United States or our allies through asymmetric means, like disruptive cyber-attacks against our company or critical infrastructure, we are prepared to respond.

We're moving in lock step with our NATO allies and partners to deepen our collective defense against threats in cyber space. Two paths are still open for the sake of historic responsibility, Russia and United States share for global stability, for the sake of our common future to choose diplomacy. But let there be no doubt, if Russia commits this breach by invading Ukraine, responsible nations around the world will not hesitate to respond. We do not stand for freedom where it is at risk today will surly pay a steeper price tomorrow. Thank you. I'll keep you informed.

BLACKWELL: About ten minutes of remarks here from President Biden in which he says that the U.S., NATO is prepared no matter what happens along the border with Ukraine. He also gave an updated number of Russian troops there. 150,000 now we heard from President Biden.

Back with us now, Erin Burnett in Lviv, Ukraine. Phil Mattingly is at the White House, Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon, Nic Robertson in Moscow. Also with us, CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Erin, let me start with you. These remarks for a domestic audience in the U.S., for Kyiv, for Moscow and leaders and capitals around the world. Many audiences for what we heard from the president.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: Yes, many audiences indeed. Well, like every word was carefully chosen. That was clear, right. It was well delivered. He went through every single point he wanted to make. You know, you point out, obviously, the updated troop number, 150,000. They had been sort of sticking around, around 120. So, 150 obviously increases that. I also thought it was interesting when you heard this message both for the domestic audience, for the Ukrainian audience, for the Russian audience and for the NATO allies. Specifically for Germany when he was very clear yet again, that if Putin goes ahead and attacks Ukraine, that Nord Stream 2, that crucial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany will not happen. As we know, Germany has been -- has equivocated on whether would be --

whether that would actually happen. So, that was significant. Again, that he said that talk about these powerful sanctions.

So, I do also feel it's interesting to note the importance of World War II in Russia and those memories, that he went into the history there. Talking about how the U.S. and Russia had fought together on the same side of World War II. That was a war of necessity but this is now a war of choice. That obviously a message for Vladimir Putin.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Yes, and Nic, that leads us to you. I thought there were many times that the message was directed to an audience of one and to Vladimir Putin. When President Biden said we are ready with diplomacy or to respond decisively. And we still believe that we can give diplomacy a chance. But I mean, it was both. He was showing -- he was talking about his interest in diplomacy but also laying out sort of the laundry list of what would happen if Russia chooses to invade. How do you think that will be received in Moscow?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And I think it was very, very telling that President Biden laid out specifically what he's prepared to negotiate. He said we're not going to change our fundamental positions that Ukraine can join NATO. That NATO would go back to its 1997 borders. We're not going change that core position.

And that is the opposite of what President Putin was saying. He was prepared to engage for negotiations today. President Putin was saying that if there are to be talks, it has to address those core concerns of Russia.

And here you have President Biden saying we can talk about transparency on both sides of line. We can talk about arms control. We can talk about strategic stability but we're not going to go to the other issues. And I think that was a very clear message for President Putin about the level where any traffic of diplomacy can go.

I thought it was interesting that he tried to sort of speak around the Russian leadership as well as to the Russian leadership. Saying that Russian themselves, he genuinely believed that they didn't wanted to go to war with the people in Ukraine being essentially their brothers. And that's very much how people in Russia view the people of Ukraine. That they are all, you know, the same people. That there is no reason to go to war. So, it was a direct appeal to the people there as well.

[15:45:00]

But again, just that very clear messaging on the consequences but very clear on what is available to talk about or not the issues that President Biden still wants to get changed -- President Putin rather still wants to get changed.

BLACKWELL: Phil, we heard from the President, a principled argument in which he talks about standing up for democracy, for freedom. But also, the practical impact potentially on energy prices here in the U.S. as we're seeing the highest per gallon gas prices in many years. Preparing the American people for what could be the result of sanctions.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know and I think it's not just on the economic or energy side of thing, I think there's preparation for the American people about the rationale for why the U.S. is taking the position it's taking with its Western allies and why this moment is so critical. Not just from a geopolitical sense but also from a domestic sense.

I think there's been a sense from some inside the administration that perhaps the rationale for the U.S. taking this position in the midst of this crisis is perhaps not as understood as it used to be. Not as just assumed as just assumed as it used to be to some degree.

So, the decision by the president to lay out very clearly the stakes, the reasons. And while there will be impact both on a domestic and international level the necessity of this moment in the U.S. posture and position in this moment was a critical one.

Guys, this speech wasn't scheduled at the start of this day. This speech was a speech that I'm told has been in preparation, at least elements of it for a decent amount of time. They were trying to find the right moment to deliver this speech and to deliver the multiple messages inside this speech.

But I think, Victor, to your point, the overarching idea of, yes, there are multiple audiences, there were certainly messages directly to the Russian people, directly to the Russian president, directly to allies and directly to the Ukrainian people but also to the American people.

Not just about the fact that this would have a detrimental effect on the economic side, particularly, on the energy front. But also, why it's still worth doing that given the stakes and this moment was a critical component of this speech and a message that the White House and the president personally very much wanted to get out today given the moment that we're in.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, we had heard earlier today from the Russian side, from the Kremlin, that they had some of the troops had gone back to their home bases. Some people wondered is that a sign of de- escalation. Is that just disinformation?

The President addressed it just now, he said we have not verified that Russian military units are returning to their bases. Your thoughts when you heard that.

COLONEL CEDRIC LEIGHTON, USAF (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I thought, Alisyn, that it really showed that the U.S. administration thinks it may be a disinformation campaign.

At the very least what it shows is that the Russians may be doing this but they're not doing it as a total withdrawal. And it's just a movement of troops that could be part of a normal maneuvering effort that they do. But they are keeping everybody in place right on the Ukrainian border. And that is, of course, of great concern to the Biden administration. BLACKWELL: Oren, the president also in speaking to the Russian people,

said that you are not the enemy. But also added, I do not believe that you want a bloody war. The projection, the estimates from not only national security adviser but those at the Pentagon is that there could be tens of thousands of people killed if Russia goes in at the scale of which they are capable considering that the resources and the troops they have on the border.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, U.S. officials have made it clear that if Russian President Vladimir Putin makes the decision to invade, this is not a quick move in, move out type of battle. It will be long. It will be drawn out and it will be ugly. Not only for the Ukrainian side but also the Russian side.

And that was point President Joe Biden hammered home. That if Putin makes that decision, it doesn't go swimmingly. Right. It doesn't go well. And it will be ugly. And that was a point he decided to make, importantly, there.

Now one of the other interesting things is that we've heard warnings that invasion could happen this week. And yet, Biden didn't use that sort of language. We didn't hear the word "imminent" there. We didn't hear "about to happen." That perhaps reflecting a belief that there is a window of diplomacy that needs to be taken advantage of here.

I'll use a word that Phil Mattingly used right before we went to Biden, and that was "skepticism." There is skepticism about this claim that Russian troops are leaving and yet there is a belief here that almost a curiosity to see where this leads.

The Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, President Vladimir Putin suggesting that diplomacy should continue. There is a window here and it seemed that Biden was trying in his speech to the make sure that window or that door was opened a little more here and that the opportunity continues for whatever it's worth and with all the possible options here.

Now of course, officials here are looking to see if troops move away from Crimea, if Russian troops that is move away.

[15:50:00]

So far defense official we spoke with a short time ago says there is movement but it's not in the away direction. So, they're still very much looking to see if that's reflected with the troop presence there.

CAMEROTA: Erin, I noted that same part of the speech that Victor just brought up about how President Biden, one of the constituencies that he was talking to, were the Ukrainian people. And he was basically saying that he knows that Russians and Ukrainian people are not enemies. And he said, that your ties -- speaking to Russians -- he talked about their ties to the people of Ukraine. Do you hear that echoed on the streets? And also, do you hear similarly the anxiety that he alluded to about how horrible this would be?

BURNETT: There is definitely anxiety. Because they realize, right, it is their borders. They're looking around and saying on their borders, this is what's there. I mean it is an existential threat. It's as if you're waiting for a Category 5 hurricane that is literally life and death, and every day, you know, you're not sure which path the storm is going to take. And they've been doing that for week in and week out and month in and month out. There's incredible fatigue.

You know but you raise a really important part which is the ties between two. Because they're very much aware of a propaganda war which they see as here in Ukraine, they see as Putin saying that the country would fall in one to two days and it would be over and Putin would be in control.

They believe that is complete propaganda. They are willing to fight back. But they do have these longstanding ties. Right? I mean you know I guess part of what gives Putin his reasoning here is right, that the borders have shifted over time and that many Ukrainians speak Russian.

You know here even towards the west of Ukraine, people speak Russian. They do. Some people prefer Russian. Many of them prefer Russian. But they're very clear that speaking Russian does not mean that they want to be part of Russia. That they can have those deep cultural ties and that they see that very explicitly as differently as how they feel politically. Where they have incredible pride.

You know, here in Lviv, it is we are people of action, great pride in Ukraine as a territorial state. Right. Even though, yes, they speak Russian and they share those very deep cultural and familial ties that you refer to -- Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Nic, the President also said that NATO countries are unified in what will be the response if Putin invades. Erin, of course, mentioned, as she calls it, equivocation from Chancellor Scholz on Nord Stream 2. But in large part, NATO leaders have been speaking in unison. Have been speaking with one voice. Does that surprise the Kremlin? And has Putin galvanized NATO members? He is the reason that we're hearing this unity.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He has certainly galvanized NATO in a way that he didn't anticipate. He now has more NATO troops on the eastern side of NATO's borders, if you will. Closer to Russia. And that was what he set out to achieve, the opposite of at the beginning.

I think he is surprised by the unity that has come through from NATO. I think he was hoping to capitalize on a level of disunity that had come out of the drawdown in Afghanistan where there was heavy criticism of the United States.

I think he was trying to capitalize on the fact that there was a new German Chancellor in Germany and no longer Angela Merkel who'd been such a compass for European leaders. Capitalize on Brexit and the tensions between Britain and the rest of the European Union.

Britain, of course, a very staunch ally of the United States. I think he was trying to capitalize on the fact that the French had disagreements with Britain and the United States over that submarine deal with Australia. That France has a different view of Europe's security. Slightly different to many in NATO.

He was trying to capitalize on all of that. But again, and again and again, and we heard from the Italian foreign minister who was in Kyiv today saying exactly the same thing. And the Polish foreign minister who was here as well today in Moscow. All saying the same thing. That there is unity among NATO allies and this does seem to have caught President Putin flat-footed for sure.

CAMEROTA: Phil, the president was also talking about unity here at home. He said that this is a cause that has united Democrats and Republicans. Is that true? I think sometimes the President thinks there's more unity than at least we hear from some right-wing media. I mean you wouldn't know that if you were listening to the Fox channel prime time hosts. But is that what you're sensing in Washington?

MATTINGLY: Well, I think broadly, at least on the leadership level side on the Republican side of things. Yes, it absolutely is. I think some of the probably most positive things Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said about this administration has been in relation to how they've addressed this crisis as it is rolled out over the course of the last several weeks.

Now there are differences in terms of when sanctions should be applied. How the sanctions package should be structured. But overall, there is unity inside the U.S. Congress. Particularly the United States Senate in both parties about the decision to confront Russia, given its aggressive and offensive posture right now and the necessity to push back and try to get alliance as close as possible as they move forward in that pushback.

[15:55:55]

However, as you note, I think this is a really great point. I think this underscores why there was a view by some, it was important to lay this out. Not all Republicans are there right now. This is going to shift -- guys.

CAMEROTA: Well, Erin Burnett, Phil Mattingly, Oren Liebermann, Nic Robertson, Retired Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you all very much, really great to get all of your insights and help us with this breaking new.

BLACKWELL: And the President says there's now 150,000 Russian troops there along the border with Ukraine. And he says that the West will be prepared no matter what happens.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts after a quick break.

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