Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Biden Arrives at Presidential Palace in Poland; President Biden Meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 21, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:08]

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And with Vladimir Putin ultimately trying to use that protracted conflict to create fissures in the West among those support Ukraine.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And just to catch everyone up to speed, we are standing by here in Warsaw, waiting for President Biden to arrive at the presidential palace. He's going to be meeting with Polish President Duda, who has played a fundamental role since Russia invaded Ukraine in the response, not only humanitarian response, but also when it comes to weapons and military.

This place that you are looking at right now, the presidential palace, this is the same location where President Biden gave a speech last year one month into Russia's invasion into Ukraine. He gave a speech talking about what he believed the broader implications of the invasion meant, not just for Ukraine, not just for Russia, not just for Eastern Europe, but really for the entire world.

But it was a moment at the end of the speech that President Biden, a comment he made that really got everyone's attention, this was the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia for free people refused to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness. We will have a different future, a brighter future rooted in democracy and principle, hope and light, of decency and dignity, of freedom, of possibilities. For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: It was a moment that captured headlines worldwide.

Ambassador Taylor, you watched that moment as well. You know just as well as I do, the White House had to come out after and say they were not calling for regime change. The president said he did not have any regrets about that comment. I wonder what you are going to be listening for President Biden to say to day and these remarks and in this speech. WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Kaitlan, I imagine that he will be very clear about the U.S. goal. And the U.S. goal is to defeat the Russians and for a Ukrainian victory. He will also put this in a broader context. He will be able to say and describe how important this is for all of us. It's important for Ukraine. It's important for Europe. It's important for the United States that the Ukrainians win.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Jill, one of the things we heard from President Putin's remarks today also is the defense of the economy, because that has been a real question mark. I mean, we've seen what has happened to the Russian economy as a result. And he tried to make it appear otherwise, that the Russian economy has not suffered the way that we've actually seen it suffer on the world stage. Obviously, it's been propped up by some other players, as Sara mentioned, India and China, of course. But what's the reality when it comes to the Russian economy and the impact on the Russian people?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, it has been effective. Now, they have been able to overcome some of the dangers for the economy, but I think one really telling moment, and it went on at length about this, was the effect of the war and the body bags that coming back from Russia.

And so President Putin said, we're going to create a foundation, a national foundation that will help the families because, as you said, we can almost feel their pain. He said, it's tangible, and we have to help them. And so what this says to me is he's obviously under pressure from the Russian people because of the people who have died, their family members who (INAUDIBLE). And so this foundation is being (INAUDIBLE).

I would say also, you know, he talked really about class warfare. He mentioned people who have -- Russians who have put their money, invested their money in the west, and he said no ordinary Russian would have any pity for anyone who lost their yachts due to the sanctions.

So, again, what he was trying to say he was going to do was actually a reflection of the problems that he has right now. And you can see the personal problems of Russians right now creeping through in this speech.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Really, really interesting, the things he says he's going to try to fix are actually the things that are hurting the country right now, but he doesn't want to put it in those terms.

We are going to come back to this amazing panel, our brain trust, but, first, we're going to go to Fred Pleitgen, who is in Russia. And at this point, are we hearing any reaction from Moscow?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Sara. Well, there certainly has been a lot of reaction. First of all, President Biden's visit in Ukraine, we've heard some of that from Dmitry Peskov earlier today. And just a couple of minutes ago, I actually got a press release from the Russian Foreign Ministry that they have now summoned the U.S. ambassador to Moscow here in a protest note against the U.S.'s involvement in Ukraine.

[07:05:02]

I just want to read some of it to you really quickly because all of this obviously moving very quickly. We have Vladimir Putin's a speech. We have this now. One of the things they said is they say is, in connection of the growing involvement of the United States and hostilities on the side of the Kyiv regime, of course, we heard in Vladimir Putin's address earlier today, him constantly calling the government in Kyiv, the Kyiv regime, also saying that he believes that that authorities in Kyiv are alien to the actual Ukrainian people. That's something the Russians have actually been spreading a lot.

And they then go on to say, and I think this is quite important, they say that this clearly proves the inconsistency and falsity of the statements of the American side that the United States is not a part of the conflict. So, the Russians are saying they believe that the United States is indeed involved in this war, and that's certainly one thing that Putin also made clear that he believed that this was essentially Russia against the west.

I want you to listen into some of what Vladimir Putin had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: The elite of the west does not conceal their ambitions, which is to strategically defeat Russia. What does that mean? It means to finish us off once and for all and to make local. They do that by making local conflicts into much wider and bigger ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So, obviously, a very long speech of Vladimir Putin.

There were a couple of things that I also picked up on, which I actually thought was quite interesting. Vladimir Putin obviously repeatedly saying that Russia will persevere, that Russia will continue. One of the things we didn't hear from Vladimir Putin today is how he thinks things are actually going for the Russians on the battlefield. Because, obviously, we know that has been very difficult.

And, of course, as far as the new start treaty is concerned as well, I found it quite interesting that he said that Russia is afraid that Russian bases could be struck by the Ukrainians. You'll recall many people believe the Ukrainians managed to strike a base of the Russians inside Russia that had Russian strategic nuclear-capable bombers on them last year, guys.

SIDNER: Yes. I think the Ukrainians could answer the question of how things are going for Russia in two words, not well. Thank you so much, Fred. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: When I was listening to President Putin's speech earlier today. He made this comment about long range weapons. Obviously, that is what Zelenskyy has been seeking. It seemed to be the most specific threat that we heard from Putin.

And we're seeing here, I should note, that the president's motorcade, President Biden's motorcade, that is it right there, it is going down the streets of Warsaw. It's less than a ten-minute drive over here to where we are outside the presidential palace. That is where President Biden is going to be meeting with Polish President Duda. It'll be a formal greeting as it was last year when they gathered the troops that they will inspect before going behind c doors. We'll get a brief look at what that looks like before the two leaders will sit down face-to- face to talk about the grave implications of what they -- of what they are seeing, how they are responding, what Poland would like to see.

Obviously, this is the country that has felt the weight of this invasion. They've taken in over 9 million refugees that crossed Poland's borders. About 1.5 million, we believe, are still here actually in Poland. So, that has been a huge aspect of it in addition to what we're talking about here with weapons and what that looks like.

And, Spider Marks, when you heard President Putin say, the longer range weapons systems, if they come to Ukraine, he says, quote, the further we will be forced to move the threat away from our borders. What is he saying there? What did you take away from that?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES SPIDER MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, what I think he is saying is that if longer range weapons are being deployed by the Ukrainians, in other words, if NATO and the United States step up and then increase the capabilities, what I think Putin is indicating is that he understands he's now at risk in sanctuary. That is to say across the border into Russia, he now has capabilities that he is using to move forces in where he stages forces, refits forces, prepares forces in sanctuary. Nobody is threatening him there. Then he moves them into Ukraine. What he's indicating is he may have to push those forces further back, which is exactly the type of effect you want to achieve in battle. You want to reach out as deep as you can and affect what is happening before it engages in that close combat.

HARLOW: Kaitlan made such a good point, pointing back to that March 2022 address, where Biden went off script and said he cannot remain in power, talking about Putin giving that address at the same place he will speak today. He also said last year in October of 2022, Biden did say that he believes that Vladimir Putin is a rational actor. One year into this war, do you believe his position has changed?

[07:10:00]

MARKS: Poppy, is that a question for me? I'm sorry.

HARLOW: It is for Bill Taylor, Ambassador Taylor.

TAYLOR: Yes. I think President Putin is rational. Rational people can make mistakes. Rational people can make bad decisions on bad information. I don't think President Putin is crazy. I've not met this man, but a lot of people that I know have studied him for a long time. They don't think he is suicidal or crazy. He makes bad decisions. And it's increasingly clear that the decision, the original decision to invade Ukraine was a blunder, and he's now a year in from this blunder. He's trying to get himself out of this blunder. He's doubling down on this blunder, and it's not going well for him, as we've said.

COLLINS: I just want note what we're seeing here, the motorcade has pulled up. We're watching it from our balcony here right by the presidential palace. We're watching reporters scrambling in to capture this arrival that -- that you can see the Polish forces there, President Duda is right there, waiting under the flags for President Biden to walk up for this meeting.

It's remarkable what has changed and also what has not changed in the last 11 months since President Biden was here. And I also just think it's notable that he is here. He's not in Berlin. He is not in Paris. He is not in London. He has come to Warsaw because Poland has played a pivotal role in this. And that was not always a given. The relationship between the United States and Poland before this invasion was -- there were concerns about Poland being on this rightward side.

There were concerns about the state media here, what that was looking like, their treatment when it comes to human rights. So much has changed of that in just the last 12 months alone since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the relationship of what Poland has done. Not only have they helped are the refugees. Sara, you know that very well. You've covered it on the ground as those millions of refugees were coming through Poland, but also they have served as the logistics hub for so many of the weapons that we've seen going into Ukraine. I mean, they have helped get all of that when it was quite difficult at the beginning to get so many of those weapons across the border into Ukraine, Sara and Poppy.

SIDNER: Yes, I can tell you, just from the perspective of how the relationship has changed between the United States and Poland because there were questions about human rights and certainly a slide to the far right there, although that's sort of happened in this country as well, and many countries in Europe. But when it comes to the way in which Poland responded to the refugees, there was a moment when I was standing on the border in a town called Przemysl, and then we went to the border with Ukraine.

And as we watched people walk over, they were coming over with their children in tow, holding them with one suitcase, often. And the way in which they were received when they got to the other side was nothing short of beautiful. I mean, people were crying because they were -- they came into open arms. People just randomly set up shop and started cooking for the refugees on the border, right after they passed through.

And you saw that not just from the Polish government, but you saw that directly from the Polish people in a way I don't think I've ever seen it before with such numbers coming over. So, it was a moment that really set the stage for how Poland was going to act towards Ukrainians and towards Ukraine.

HARLOW: That's a great point. Kaitlan? COLLINS: Yes, it did. And what the mayor of Warsaw, who we're going to have on the program later, has talked about, is that they've taken them into their homes. Actually, what we saw earlier, those Polish people who have joined the territorial defense forces, which is basically the Polish version of the U.S. National Guard, they were saying, you know, we have friends in Ukraine.

They came and stayed with us for weeks when the invasion happened either, you know, at the time they were afraid to return home. They weren't sure what was going to happen. Some of them had gone back. Some had gone to other places in Europe. But these are their neighbors. They feel very close to them. They have very similar cultures. And a lot of them came here to -- they were taken to the schools. They began to work.

I mean, it's really amazing, the way that the polish people welcomed so many of the Ukrainian refugees at a time of such crisis. And I think that's part of what you are going to see in this meeting today. I think it's part of the solidarity of President Biden in his age want to underscore how fundamental that alliance is.

You can see President Duda there getting prepared to greet President Biden. A remarkable change in their relationship, even as well given what it was before Biden came into office, as he was first in office, and now the fact he has visited Poland twice within the span of a year, given major speeches here as you see the Beast roll into the presidential palace here in Warsaw.

SIDNER: And there you hear part of the pomp and circumstance.

[07:15:00]

You can hear the welcome there, as the president of the United States is rolling in. It'll be really, really interesting here what happens between these two men, especially after his trip to Ukraine.

COLLINS: You can see the forces gathered there. It's a very formal greeting where President Biden is arriving. He's about to step out of the Beast. This is his first stop of the day after a very long day traveling in and out of Ukraine yesterday, a ten-hour train ride both ways. Duda actually greeted him near the border when he arrived. There's the handshake between the two leaders.

SIDNER: Very happy greeting. You see them both laughing with each other and just having a quick chat.

COLLINS: And I think there were some skepticism in the Biden administration when they first took office. President Duda had formed quite a close relationship with President Trump when he was in office, and they even joked putting up a Fort Trump base here in Poland. Now, you see just how close the two of them have grown. That's President Biden greeting some of the top advisers to President Duda. One of them there, Marshin Teysha (ph), you saw we had on the program yesterday talking about what they would like to see happen next in the next several months and what their predictions are for Russia's continued invasion. After this, the two leaders will inspect the gathered troops who were there. That is part of a formal welcome, President Biden here in Poland, and then they will to inside behind closed doors. And that's where they will talk about what is going on, what President Biden heard from President Zelenskyy when he spent about six hours on the ground with him yesterday. Obviously, a lot of that has to do with weaponry and what they would like to see and whether or not they are going to send those longer range missiles to them, the F-16 fighter jets, as we noted as well.

SIDNER: And I think we shouldn't diminish the fact that, look, the reason why this relationship, in part, has come stronger between Biden and Duda is because there is a war on their doorstep. And if you are an ally of the United States, with the most powerful military in the world, you don't want to mess with that relationship, right?

COLLINS: Yes. I think a major concern has been Poland's fear is if Russia is successful in Ukraine, Poland could be next. That is something they've warned about.

You heard -- that's Jake Sullivan there, the national security adviser to President Biden, who is one of the very few people on hand with him in Kyiv yesterday, his other aides, (INAUDIBLE) that he is greeting as he walks down the line, John Kirby, obviously, Amanda Sloat we also had on yesterday from the National Security Council.

But, yes, Sara, to your point, I mean, that has been Poland's fear, and Moldova's fear, and all of Eastern Europe's fear, is that they could see something similar. It's a really imminent, real threat for them when they talk about what this could look like, and why they are so invested in what the outcome of this is going to be.

HARLOW: Ambassador Taylor, let me bring you in here. We just heard the U.S. national anthem now and we're going to see them walk inside, President Duda and President Biden together.

Kaitlan mentioned Jake Sullivan, one of the few advisers who was with the president is on the ground in Kyiv today.

[07:20:02]

And the reporting from our White House team, Kevin Liptak and Betsy Klein, is that Jake Sullivan also really set up what we will hear from the president in a few hours, not as a sort of head-to-head with what we heard from President Putin this morning but rather something larger than a rebuttal to what Putin said, something that will be an affirmative statement of values. How important is that knowing that this plan was made far before they knew that President Putin was speaking today?

TAYLOR: Exactly. President Biden needs to put a broader context, tell the world, tell Europe, tell Ukraine, tell the Americans why it's so important. And so this is not a response to President Putin. This is not a response to Putin's -- President Putin said that this is the United States and NATO's fault. And so he, President Biden, is going to make the case that this is a defense of Ukraine. It is a defense of Europe. It's a defense of democratic principles, of international principles, of universal principles, of sovereignty, of territorial integrity. He's going to make the broader case. President Biden is going to make the broader case of why it's so important for Poland and Europe, and NATO, and the United States to continue to support Ukraine in this fight. So he'll put a broader context on this.

SIDNER: And you're seeing the two men now sort of walking by the troops, inspecting the troops, as is the norm to do in a ceremony like this, a lot of pomp and circumstance. But there is some real heartfelt words that I think Europe, Poland in particular, and Ukraine are expecting. And it'll be interesting to see how Russia also responds to what he says.

HARLOW: Yes.

SIDNER: We're going to go now to Jill Dougherty, who has been covering the Russian regime for a very, very long time, certainly as long as Putin has been in power in some capacity.

Jill, what do you make of -- you can see this relationship is one that is strong, and do you think that Putin is -- the word fear, he doesn't like that to be part of his lexicon but do you think that this gives him some sense of like I'm in trouble even though he will never say it?

DOUGHERTY: You know, if you put yourself in Putin's place right now this morning, he snarls against what he calls the collective west. And the collective west now includes the countries that used to be friendly with Russia and that used to be part of the Soviet Union and that were under the sway of the Soviet Union in Central Europe. And that's where President Biden is right now.

So, how the world has changed, I mean, who are Russia's friends right now? Today, we have the top foreign policy adviser for the Chinese government in Moscow. So, Russia is reaching out to China, knowing that China is economically much more powerful than Russia. Then they have -- you know, they're getting weapons from North Korea and from Iran.

I really -- the phrase that comes to mind is how the mighty have fallen, at least diplomatically. I mean, if their friends are the, you know, countries like North Korea and Iran, they have problems. So, what they are trying to do right now, Russia looks at this, realizes this is the powerful west. So, it's changing its message and looking for friends in developing countries.

And that's why you hear Putin saying the elites of the west, the elites of the west, trying to say that Russia doesn't have any elites, that Russia is part of, you know, the developing world. It's all, again, very Soviet, and it rings hollow.

I mean, in the speech this morning when I was listening to Putin, I mentioned he said, well, you know, average Russians don't have any pity for rich Russians who have put their money abroad. Well, you know, the entire government of Putin is made up of rich people who have invested their money abroad, and now were essentially being forced to bring it back.

So, getting back to the situation here in Poland, I think is -- it's ironic for Putin to be standing there and talking about, you know, the collective west, which he has helped to mold and to call into a force that is opposed to what he is doing in Ukraine right now. Again, he brings many of these things upon himself by launching that war in Ukraine.

COLLINS: We can see the presidential palace. This is inside the presidential palace where President Biden and President Duda are about to go inside. There's quite a crowd gathered outside as they are watching the military band play, watching the gathering of these troops, the inspection of them.

[07:25:00]

We will see President Biden and President Duda once they sit down inside briefly. We'll see if they make any remarks there and obviously pay close attention to what they could potentially say.

Spider Marks, I wonder one thing you can weigh in on, the fact that Poland has played such a critical role in actually convincing other nations to send bigger and more weapons to Ukraine, including the tanks, specifically I think is the most recent instance of where they've played a really big role in pushing other countries to say, yes, we will send them to Ukraine.

MARKS: Yes. United States and Poland have really created a very, very strong relationship. I think it's important to note also that the U.S. Army has prepositioned and put a permanent presence, a three-star headquarters commanded forward by a one or a two-star in Poland, which means we are now moving our forces back into what used to be, as Jill pointed out, the former Soviet Union, which, again, makes Putin even increasing his being aggrieved, which he routinely is anyway.

And so this -- this relationship with Poland is incredibly important for the United States. It's a forward presence and it's not a large headquarters, but it allows other forces to plug into that headquarters and to have that command and control relationship necessary to do not necessarily fighting on the ground but to do the training, the foreign internal defense, the type of -- those kinds of cooperative arrangements that are necessary for coalition forces. That is multiple nations joining together to train, to have commonality of purpose and also to achieve increased readiness levels forward in this forward presence, absolutely important relationship that the U.S. and Poland has right now.

COLLINS: Yes. It's incredible the way that it's changed and what it looks like from Biden as a candidate, warning about totalitarian regimes when he was talking about Poland to now this close embrace of President Duda, two visits in less than a year.

Sara and Poppy, obviously, we're going to keep an eye on President Biden's meeting with Polish President Duda. They are behind closed doors now, so we'll keep an eye on what they say, when they are in front of the cameras. HARLOW: Okay. Thank you so much.

Back here in the United States, we're watching a Supreme Court case, actually a series of cases being heard over the next two days. It will really test the power of social media companies and their responsibility. A preview, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]