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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Obama Press Conference in Estonia

Aired September 03, 2014 - 05:00   ET

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

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PRES. TOOMAS HENDRIK ILVES, ESTONIA: -- issue on our agenda today is security. The question on everyone's mind is the situation in Ukraine and its wider impact on European security.

I just did hear that President Poroshenko and President Putin have agreed on a cease-fire. I just hope it works.

But in the general situation, we need to be clear and consistent in the language that we use to describe the situation in Ukraine. As the E.U. underlined last weekend, this is Russian aggression. The E.U. and the United States are ready to take further restrictive measures in response to Russia's behavior. Russia must admit that it is a party to the conflict, and take genuine steps that will lead to a de- escalation of the conflict.

We must also continue to support Ukraine by providing the country with the assistance that it needs.

When it comes to the security of our region, the United States' engagement here runs deep. Estonia is a close and reliable ally to the United States. We take our NATO commitment seriously, very seriously. We have not sat back and waited for others to take care of our security.

Since joining the alliance, Estonia soldiers have consistently defended the freedom of others in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and most recently, in the Central Africa Republic. We dedicate sufficient resources to defense and are consistently increasing our national defense capacity.

We're grateful to the United States for sending troops here and for actively participating in the Baltic air policing mission. Your presence underlies the credibility of NATO's Article 5.

Without a doubt, your bilateral contributions have helped set an example for other NATO allies. A robust and visible ally presence here in Estonia is the best way of discouraging any possible aggressors.

We look forward to the NATO summit tomorrow confirming this -- for we face a completely new security situation in Europe, and we are pleased that this is reflected in many of the summit's documents. We expect the NATO summit in Wales to adopt the readiness action plan that will guide allied nations for years to come through a set of practical steps and measures of reassurance and deterrents.

In addition to our close defense cooperation, I'm also pleased that our bilateral relations are strong in many, many other areas including and especially cyber and energy security. Globally, we are working together to promote our common values, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Estonia is a world leader in Internet freedom and an in e-governance. We have a liberal economy offering many exciting opportunities for increased trade, cooperation and investment. And this is also one reason why believe the TTIP is a crucial effort on the part of the European Union and United States.

Let me once again welcome President Obama to Estonia, to northern Europe, one of Europe's most prosperous and successful regions. Our countries share common values and interests. And I'm certain that together, we can and will contribute to the vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace. Thank you.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, to President Ilves, I want to thank you for welcoming me here today. It is a great honor to be in Estonia, especially as we mark our 10th anniversary as NATO allies.

Mr. President, thank you for being such an outstanding partner. I was proud to welcome you to the White House last year. We've spoken since on the situation in Ukraine. Your life reflects the story of your nation, the son of refugees who returned home to help chart a path for a free and democratic Estonia.

As many of you know, that long journey also took Toomas and his family to America, to New Jersey, where they still remember him as Tom. It was wonderful to meet your daughter today and find out she had gone back to New Jersey as well.

He says that he knew Bruce Springsteen before he had his first record, so you embody the deep ties between Americans and Estonians. I want to thank you for your friendship.

I've come here today because Estonia is one of the great success stories among the nations that reclaimed their independence after the Cold War. You've built a vibrant democracy and new prosperity. You've become a model for how citizens can interact with their government in the 21st century, something President Ilves has championed. With their digital IDs, Estonians can use their smartphones to get just about anything done online, from their children's grades to their health records. I should have called the Estonians when we were setting up our health care Web site.

Most of all, I'm here because Estonia has been a model ally. Estonian forces have served with courage and skill in Iraq and Afghanistan. And we honor our service members who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, including nine brave Estonians.

As NATO nears the end of our combat mission in three months, I want to thank Estonia for the commitments you've made for helping to sustain Afghan security forces going forward. As a high-tech leader, Estonia is also playing a leading role in

protecting NATO from cyber threats. Estonia contributes its full share, it's full 2 percent of GDP, to the defense of our alliance. In other words, Estonia meets its responsibilities as we head to the summit in Wales, Estonia is an example of how every NATO member needs to do its fair share for our collective defense.

So, I've come here first and foremost to reaffirm the commitment of the Unite States to the security of Estonia. As NATO allies, we have Article 5 duties to our collective defense. That is a commitment that is unbreakable. It is unwavering, it is eternal, and Estonia will never stand alone. As president, I've made sure that we are fulfilling that promise.

Early in my presidency, I urged our alliance to update our contingency planning for the defense of this region and additional NATO forces began rotating through the Baltics, including Estonia for more training and exercises. In response to Russia's actions in Ukraine earlier this year, the United States increased our presence further. We've contributed additional aircraft to the Baltic air policing mission, a mission to which 14 other NATO allies have also contributed over the past decade. And we're now continuously rotating additional aircraft through the Baltics.

I look forward to joining Prime Minister Roivas in thanking our service members later today.

On my visit to Warsaw this spring, I announced a new mission to bolster the American military presence here in Europe, including in the Baltics, and we're working with Congress to make sure that we deliver.

Today, I can announce that this initiative will include additional air force units and aircraft training exercises here in the north Baltic region. And we agree with our Estonia allies that an ideal location to host and support these exercises would be Amari Air Base here in Estonia.

With the support of Congress and our Estonian friends, I'm confident I can make this happen and look forward to making this happen when we meet with the presidents (INAUDIBLE) this afternoon.

As president as indicated we spend a great deal of time on Russia's aggression against Ukraine. I'll have much more to say about this in my speech today.

For now, I just want to commend Estonia, including President Ilves for being such a strong voice in NATO and the E.U., on behalf of the Ukrainian people.

Estonia has provided assistance as Ukrainians work to strengthen their democratic institutions and reform their economy. Because we stood together, Russia is paying a heavy price for its actions, and NATO is poised to do more to help Ukraine strengthen its forces and defend their country. And more broadly, I want to expend Estonia for being such a strong

leader beyond NATO, whether it's contributing forces to the E.U. mission and the Central African Republic, or supporting the relief efforts for the Syrian people, helping nations like Tunisia and their own transition to democracy or standing up for Internet freedom and human rights. This nation of 1.3 million people as we say truly punches above its weight.

The world is better for it. And it's yet another reason why the United States will always be proud to stand with our ally Estonia.

Finally, I want to say today the prayers of the American people are with the family of a devoted and courageous journalist, Steven Sotloff.

Overnight, our government determined that tragically Steven was taken from us in a horrific act of violence. We cannot even begin to imagine the agony that everyone who loved Steven is feeling right now, especially his mother, his father and his younger sister. So, today, our country grieves with them.

Like Jim Foley before him, Steve's life stood in sharp contrast to those who murdered him so brutally. They make the absurd claim that they kill in the name of religion, but it was Steven, his friend says, who deeply loved the Islamic world.

His killers tried to claim that they defend the oppressed, but it was Steven who traveled across the Middle East risking his life to tell the story of Muslim men and women demanding justice and dignity. Whatever the murderers think they'll achieve by killing innocent Americans like Steven, they have already failed. They have already failed because like people around the world, Americans are repulsed by their barbarisms. We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us to stiffen our resolves to take the fight against these terrorists. And those who make the mistake of harming Americans we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served.

Mr. President?

ILVES: Well, I will open things up for some questions, I understand, two from Estonia journalists and two from president's Obama's entourage.

As the host, I'll give the first opportunity to one of our top questioners on the map.

REPORTER: Yes, thank you. (INAUDIBLE).

I have the same question to both presidents.

The partnership between Russia and NATO as a state as we all know, why to keep actually it alive, the agreement signed in 1997 with Russia and NATO, perhaps it would push or give some new opportunities to our region security in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. ILVES: Well, from our side, first of all, NATO did decide to freeze

its relations with Russia several months ago. But on the other issue in terms of what are the implications of the NATO/Russia founding act, I suggests, as you say, you can't do anything because the NATO Russian Founding Act rid the NATO Russia founding act which says that these conditions hold to, quote, "in the current and foreseeable future" -- or the security environment of the current and foreseeable future.

That was the security environment of 1997, when Boris Yeltsin was president. And there had been no violations of either the U.N. charter or the 1975 Helsinki final act in 1990 Paris charter.

So I would argue this is an unforeseen and new security environment. And, therefore, one has to hold on to certain provisions. It does not mean we have to go through the whole act, but certainly, when an agreement, in certain parts no longer holds, well, then, it's time to make a change.

I mean, the NATO/Russia founding act has been violated by Russia. We continue to support the vision of that document, but its substance has changed dramatically. And I am confident that all of NATO actions are and will be conducted in accordance with its international commitment as an alliance.

OBAMA: The circumstances clearly have changed. And I think this will be a topic of discussion in Wales. Beyond the issue of that particular document, our top priority has been to make sure that there's no ambiguity when it comes to our Article 5 commitments to our NATO allies. And as a consequence of the rotations that have been increased, the presence of U.S. troops in the course of those rotation and additional NATO allies. What we want to send a clear message to everyone is that we take those commitments seriously.

And I think what's going to be clear, during the course of the summit is that given the changed landscape, not only do we have to make sure that these rotations are effective and designed towards current threats, but more broadly, NATO has to look at its defense capabilities as a whole. And make sure that they are updated and properly resourced. You know, for, I think a certain period of time, there was a complacency here in Europe about the demands that were require to make sure that NATO was able to function effectively.

My former secretary of defense I think came here and gave some fairly sharp speeches repeatedly about the need for making certain that every NATO member was doing its fair share. I think Secretary-General Rasmussen during his the course of his tenure continually emphasized the need for us to upgrade our joint capabilities.

And, you know, obviously, what's happened in Ukraine is tragic, but I do think it gives us an opportunity to look with fresh eyes and to understand what it is that's necessary to make sure that our NATO commitments are met. And that's one of the reasons why I'm here in Estonia today.

I'm going to call on Ann Compton and on her farewell tour.

ANN COMPTON ABC NEWS: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Now that you say that a second American has been slain, what is your response? Will airstrikes continue inside Iraq? Might they expand into Syria? Will you have a full strategy on is which will satisfy like those like Prime Minister Cameron who called an imminent to all the interests? And will it satisfy some of your supporters like Senator Feinstein who fears that on this, you may have been too cautious? Thank you.

OBAMA: Well, keep in mind from the outset, the moment that ISIS went into Mosul, we're very clear that this was a severe threat not just to Iraq but to the region and to U.S. interest.

And so, we've been putting forward a strategy since that time that was designed to do a number of things. Number one, to make sure that Americans were protected in Iraq in our embassies, our consulates. Number two, that we worked with Iraqis to create a functioning government that was inclusive and that could serve as the basis for Iraq to begin to go on the offensive.

And the airstrikes that we've conducted in support of protecting Americans, conducting humanitarian missions and providing space for the Iraqi government to form had borne fruit. We've seen that in Sinjar Mountain. We've seen it most recently in the town of Amerli, which heroically held out in the siege against ISIL. We're seeing progress in the formation of inclusive Sunni/Shia/Kurd central government.

And so, what we've seen is the strategy that we've laid out moving effectively. But what I've said from the start is that this is not going to be a one-week, or one-month, or six-month proposition. Because of what's happened in the vacuum of Syria, as well as the battle-hardened elements of ISIS that grew out of al Qaeda and Iraq during the course of the Iraq war, it's going to take time for us to be able to roll them back. And it is going to take time for us to be able to form the regional coalition that's going to be required, so we can reach out to Sunni tribes in some of the areas that ISIS has occupied. And make sure that we have allies on the ground in combination with the air strikes that we've already conducted.

So the bottom line is this: our objective is clear and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL so it's no longer a threat not just to Iraq, but also to the region and to the United States. In order for us to accomplish that, the first phase has been to make sure we've got an Iraqi government that's in place, and that we are blunting the momentum that ISIL was carrying out. And the air strikes have done that.

But now, what we need to do is make sure that we've got the regional strategy in place that can support an ongoing effort, not just in the air, but on the ground, to move that forward. And last week, when this question was asked, I was specifically referring to the possibility of the military strategy inside of Syria that might require congressional approval. It is very important from my perspective that when we send our pilots in, to do a job that we know that this is a mission that's going to work, that we're very clear what our objectives are, what our targets are. We've made the case to Congress. We've made the case to the American people. And we've got allies behind us, so that it's not just a one-off, but it's something that over time is going to be effective.

And so, bottom line is this, Ann -- it's not only that we're going to be bringing the justice to those who perpetrated this terrible crime against these two fine young men. More broadly, the United States will continue to lead a regional and international effort against the kind of barbaric and ultimately empty vision that ISIL represents. And that's going to take some time. But we're going to get it done. I'm very confident of it.

COMPTON: Did you just say that the strategy is to destroy is, or to simply contain them or push them back?

OBAMA: What we're going to -- our objective is to make sure that ISIL is not an ongoing threat to the region. And we can accomplish that. It's going to take some time. And it's going to take some effort.

As we've seen with al Qaeda, there are always going to be remnants that can cause havoc, of any of these networks, in part, because of the nature of terrorist activities. You get a few individuals, and they may be able to carry out a terrorist act.

But what we can do is to make sure that the kind of systemic and broad-based aggression that we've seen on ISIL, that terrorizes primarily Muslims, Shia, Sunni, terrorizes Kurds, terrorizes not just Iraqis but people throughout the region, that that is degraded to the point where it is no longer the kind of factor that we've seen it being over the last several months.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

My question is also for both presidents. Ukraine is facing difficult time on the situation on the ground may become even more complicated in the run-up to the parliament elections there in October. In your view, what more could be done and should be done in support of Ukraine, politically, economically? And also from security point of view, what do you think about the idea providing Ukraine armed forces with weapons to counter Russia's attack in the east of the country more effectively? Thank you.

ILVES: Well, most importantly, Ukraine needs, above all, continued political support. And that from that support comes decisions that involve everything else economic aid, humanitarian aid and also military aid. So -- and from that also decisions on equipment.

In Wales, the NATO Ukraine committee will gather and decide how to increase in NATO defense cooperation with Ukraine. This is the kind of decision that we have been -- we in NATO take together.

On the humanitarian side, we have doubled our humanitarian and development assistance in looking for what more we can do, we have already brought wounded, seriously wounds Ukrainian soldiers to our top-notch rehabilitation center here. And will continue to do so, that is certainly one thing that is -- we know the Ukrainians lack that. And we have it at a superbly high level. And also, I should add quickly with the assistance of the United States and the Walter Reed Hospital that we have this here.

The next couple of months, leading up to the parliamentary elections will be very tricky. Russia, I predict, will do everything in its power to undermine the elections. We saw this already in the case of the presidential elections. It will try to destabilize the government in Kiev. And to keep Ukrainian forces from regaining ground in the east. So, we should be prepared for a tough several, or month, month and a half.

The next government, of course, that will be then -- will have the full legitimacy that comes with a new parliamentary elections -- must show that it is a clear and better alternatives to the one that the people of Ukraine ousted half a year ago. And I also see that making sure, ensuring that the elections are carried out in a free and fair manner will be a top most priority for us, for the OSCE, and I think one of the issues I think should be one the kind of interference that we saw in the presidential election that not be allowed and fully addressed and recognized by the monitoring of the elections.

I think that we all, after especially the presidential elections, we all know what the Russians -- Russian forces can do to disrupt the democratic process. And I think we should be far better prepared to document all of that when we get to the elections.

OBAMA: Political support is absolutely vital. And one of our goals at the summit over the next several days is to once again project unity across NATO, on behalf of Ukraine's efforts to maintain its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The sanctions that we've applied so far have had a real effect on Russia. And I think it's important for us to continue to impose costs on Russia, so long as it is violating basic principles of international law.

And so far, at least, we've been able to combine efforts between Europe and the United States and some of our allies around the world. And the results are a Russian economy that is effectively contracting, capital flight, putting a burden on the Russian economy. That at the moment may be overridden by politics inside of Russia as a consequence of state-run propaganda. But over time, will point to the fact that this is a strategy that's not serving Russia well, in addition to not serving Ukraine obviously well.

Beyond that, the Ukrainian economy is something that we have been paying a lot of attention to. We helped work with the IMF to ensure that Ukraine had the resources to get through some of the emergency financing issues that they had to deal with. But we're going to have more work to do. The military efforts that have been require to deal with Russian finance, Russian-armed, Russian-trained and Russian- supported and also Russian-directed separatists has meant that -- has met a drain on the Ukrainian economy. Not to mention the fact you have major industrial areas inside of Ukraine that obviously have been impacted by the conflict there.

So, we're going to have to make sure that the international community stands behind the Ukrainian economy in the short term. Even as we encourage and advise and work with Ukraine to carry out some of the basic reforms that are going to be required in order for them to achieve the kinds of models of success that we've seen in Estonia, Poland and other places. And that's a tough road to hoe. It took a couple of decades for some of the countries who are currently in the E.U. to achieve the sort of market-based reforms that have led to such great prosperity.