Congressional Dish: CD248: Understanding the Enemy (2024)

Feb 27, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched an illegal,unjustified war against Ukraine and Putin himself is the onlyperson who can stop the war immediately. In this episode, we seekto understand why President Putin has launched this horrific war inorder to judge our country’s ability to bring the war to a quickerend.

Executive Producer: Alex Bilotta

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Ukraine Civil War

Alan MacLeod. Feb 22, 2022. “Documents Reveal US Spent $22 Million Promoting Anti-RussiaNarrative in Ukraine & Abroad.” The WashingtonStandard.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Oct 8, 2021.“Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine.” UnitedNations.

Andrew Higgins and Peter Baker. Feb 6, 2014. “RussiaClaims U.S. Is Meddling Over Ukraine.” The New YorkTimes.

NATO Expansion

Becky Sullivan. Updated Feb 24, 2022. “How NATO's expansion helped drive Putin to invade Ukraine.”NPR.

Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov. Dec 17, 2021. “Russia Demands NATO Pullback in Security Talks With U.S.”Bloomberg.

Joe Dyke. Mar 20, 2021. “NATO Killed Civilians in Libya. It’s Time to Admit It.”Foreign Policy.

NATO. Updated May 5, 2020. “Enlargement.”

NATO. 2020. “The Secretary General’s Annual Report.”

National Security Archive. December 12, 2017. “NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard.”

Arms Control Association. “The Debate Over NATO Expansion: A Critique of the ClintonAdministration's Responses to Key Questions.”

“Record of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Bakerin Moscow. (Excerpts.)” February 9, 1990. National SecurityArchive.

“Ukraine: The Orange Revolution and the Yushchenko Presidency.”In The Encyclopedia Britannica.

NATO in Ukraine

Xinhua. Nov 14, 2021. “Ukraine,NATO countries hold naval drills in Black Sea.”News.cn Chad Menegay and Aimee Valles. Sept 22, 2021.“US, NATO, Ukraine enhance interoperability with Rapid Tridentexercise.” NationalGuard.mil

Reuters. April 3, 2021. “Ukraine and Britain to Hold Joint Military Drills.” U.S.News and World Report.

NATO Allied Maritime Command. Mar 17, 2021. “NATO forces train with the Ukrainian Navy.”

European Deterrence Initiative

Paul Belkin and Hibbah Kaileh. Updated July 1, 2021. “TheEuropean Deterrence Initiative: A Budgetary Overview”[IF10946.] Congressional Research Service.

Weapons Treaties

TASS. Feb 21, 2022. “Europe won’t understand Kievtalking of regaining nuclear weapons — Russian diplomat.”

Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation. Updated March2021. “Fact Sheet: Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.”

Arms Control Association. Last reviewed August 2019. “TheIntermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at aGlance.”

General Dynamics

General Dynamics. “Corporate Governance: Board of Directors.”

Russia-China Alliance

Chen Aizhu. Feb 4, 2022. “Russia, China agree 30-year gas deal via new pipeline, to settlein euros.” Reuters.

Robin Brant. Feb 4, 2022. “China joins Russiain opposing Nato expansion.” BBC News.

Sanctions

Matina Stevis-Gridneff. Feb 25, 2022. “European Leaders Agree to a Second Wave of Russia Sanctions.”The New York Times.

Congressional Response

Joe Gould. Feb 22, 2022. “Emergency funding proposal for Ukraine gets bipartisan backing inCongress.” Defense News.

Reuters. Feb 25, 2022. “U.S. providing $600 mln for Ukraine defensive weapons -HouseSpeaker Pelosi.” Reuters.

Images

Congressional Dish: CD248: Understanding the Enemy (1)

State Property Fund of Ukraine USAID Partnership

House Speaker Weekly Briefing

February 23, 2022

YouTubeVersion

Overview: At her weekly briefing House SpeakerNancy Pelosi (D-CA), along with several of her Democraticcolleagues, talked about the situation in Ukraine and PresidentBiden’s sanctions after Russia recognized the independence ofDonetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region.

Clips

  • 10:25 Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA): Putinis terrified by the prospect of a democracy at his border. Ademocracy, giving an example to the Russian people of the kind oflife and economy they might enjoy if they cast aside their ownautocrat. This is, I think, one of the preeminent motivations ofVladimir Putin.

  • 15:32 Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA): I chairthe House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreignoperations, which oversees many of the resources to assist theUkrainian people through this crisis. This includes our economicassistance to Ukraine, including loan guarantees. Economicassistance would come through the economic support accounts forEurope, Eurasia and Central Asia, those of the accounts that wouldcome through. Without getting in too many of the weeds, I wanted tojust mention that because it's an effort that we're looking at nowin terms of our funding. It also includes humanitarian plans,including funding for refugees, God forbid, and for thoseinternally displaced by conflict. The administration has committedto us that in the event of conflict, there is a need over the next12 months of at least $1 billion for humanitarian needs. So Isupport the efforts of the administration also to bolster Ukraine'seconomy, including the proposed $1 billion in loan guarantees tocontinue with Ukraine's economic reforms.

  • 22:08 Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): I willjust close by saying this: I had the privilege of going withPresident Clinton, who invited four members of Congress House andSenate, Democrat and Republican, the Senate Democrat was SenatorJoe Biden. And we went to the expansion of NATO meeting in Paris.And it was all the heads of state of the then NATO countries whospoke and it was so beautiful because they all spoke in such apositive way about NATO. We thought like we were NATO and they werealso NATO, they had ownership and agency in possession of the NATOpossibilities. The representative of Russia who was there was BorisYeltsin. And he was very ebullient, but he was welcoming to whatwas called was the expansion we had supported in our own country,the Baltic States, Poland, others countries becoming what wascalled the Partnership for Peace and it included many countries.Now Putin is saying push it back to pre-1997. Don't ever try to addanother country and remove weapons out of Eastern Europe. That'swhat he wanted. No, that was not going to happen.

  • 33:35 Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): Whatis this about? The people of Hung -- many of us have visitedUkraine and have seen that they love democracy. They do not want tolive under Vladimir Putin. He does not want the Russian people tosee what democracy looks like. And therefore he wants to bring themunder his domain.

  • 35:15 Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): Whenwe talk about the president, he's doing the sanctions. He has afull picture of all this. As I said, he was present there the dayof the expansion of NATO. I saw the respect he commanded then, andthat was 1997, by the heads of state of all those countries, and ofcourse, that has only grown over time, by his leadership, but alsothe expansion of NATO. I think we're very well served, I respecthis judgement. And again, it's not just about when you do thesanctions, or how you support the people. It's about how the worldviews what Putin is doing. This is a very evil move on the part ofVladimir Putin.

President Biden Remarks on Russia and Ukraine

February 22, 2022

YouTubeVersion

Transcript

Overview: During an address, President Bidenannounced new sanctions against Russia in response to PresidentVladimir Putin sending Russian troops into separatist regions ofUkraine.

Clips

  • 1:57 President Biden So, today, I’mannouncing the first tranche of sanctions to impose costs on Russiain response to their actions yesterday. These have been closelycoordinated with our Allies and partners, and we’ll continue toescalate sanctions if Russia escalates. We’re implementing fullblocking sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions:V.E.B. and their military bank. We’re implementing comprehensivesanctions on Russian sovereign debt. That means we’ve cut offRussia’s government from Western financing. It can no longer raisemoney from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our marketsor European markets either. Starting tomorrow [today] andcontinuing in the days ahead, we will also impose sanctions onRussia’s elites and their family members. They share in the corruptgains of the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well.And because of Russia’s actions, we’ve worked with Germany toensure Nord Stream 2 will not — as I promised — will not moveforward.

  • 3:23 President Biden: Today, inresponse to Russia’s admission that it will not withdraw its forcesfrom Belarus, I have authorized additional movements of U.S. forcesand equipment already stationed in Europe to strengthen our BalticAllies — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Let me be clear: These aretotally defensive moves on our part. We have no intention offighting Russia. We want to send an unmistakable message, though,that the United States, together with our Allies, will defend everyinch of NATO territory and abide by the commitments we made toNATO.

  • 4:22 President Biden: Russian forcesremain positioned in Belarus to attack Ukraine from the north,including war planes and offensive missile systems. Russia hasmoved troops closer to Ukraine’s border with Russia. Russia’s navalvessels are maneuvering in the Black Sea to Ukraine’s south,including amphibious assault ships, missile cruisers, andsubmarines. Russia has moved supplies of blood and medicalequipment into position on their border. You don’t need bloodunless you plan on starting a war.

  • 6:25 President Biden: I’m going totake robust action and make sure the pain of our sanctions istargeted at the Russian economy, not ours. We are closelymonitoring energy supplies for any disruption. We’re executing aplan in coordination with major oil-producing consumers andproducers toward a collective investment to secure stability andglobal energy supplies. This will be — this will blunt gas prices.I want to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gaspump. This is critical to me.

  • 7:37 President Biden: Yesterday, theworld heard clearly the full extent of Vladimir Putin’s twistedrewrite of history, going back more than a century, as he waxedeloquently, noting that — well, I’m not going to go into it, butnothing in Putin’s lengthy remarks indicated any interest inpursuing real dialogue on European security in the year 2022.

  • 8:04 President Biden: He directlyattacked Ukraine’s right to exist. He indirectly threatenedterritory formerly held by Russia, including nations that today arethriving democracies and members of NATO. He explicitly threatenedwar unless his extreme demands were met. And there is no questionthat Russia is the aggressor.

Russian President Putin Statement on Ukraine

February 21, 2022

YouTubeVersion

Transcript

Overview: Russian President Vladimir Putinannounced after a Security Council meeting that Russia wouldrecognize the independence of the separatist republics of Donetskand Luhansk in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Clips

  • 00:15 President Putin: I would like toemphasise again that Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country forus. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture andspiritual space. These are our comrades, those dearest to us – notonly colleagues, friends and people who once served together, butalso relatives, people bound by blood, by family ties.

  • 1:22 President Putin: I would like tostart by saying that the modern Ukraine was completely created byRussia. To be more exact, Bolshevist, partially communist Russia.This process started almost immediately after the 1917 revolutions,leading and planning and his group of supporters did it in a roughway. If we talk about Russia, they were alienating parts ofhistorical territories of Russia. And millions of people who livethere, obviously no one asked anything. Then before the GreatPatriotic War, Stalin added to the USSR and handed over some landsthat belonged to Poland and Hungary, and as a compensation gavesome ancient German lands to Poland. And the 1960s crucial decisionto take Crimea away from Russia and also gave it to Ukraine. That'show the territory of Soviet Ukraine was formed.

  • 3:05 President Putin: We cannot helpbut react to this real threat, especially since I would like toreiterate that Western backers they can help Ukraine with gettingthis weapon to create yet another threat for our country because wecan see how consistently they are pumping Ukraine with weapons. TheUnited States alone starting from 2014 transferred billions ofdollars including the arm supply training personnel. In recentmonths, Western weapons are sent to Ukraine given ceaselessly infront of the eyes of the entire world

  • 7:05 President Putin: Actually, as Ihave already said, Soviet Ukraine is the result of the Bolsheviks’policy and can be rightfully called “Vladimir Lenin’s Ukraine.” Hewas its creator and architect. This is fully and comprehensivelycorroborated by archival documents, including Lenin’s harshinstructions regarding Donbass, which was actually shoved intoUkraine. And today the “grateful progeny” has overturned monumentsto Lenin in Ukraine. They call it decommunization. You wantdecommunization? Very well, this suits us just fine. But why stophalfway? We are ready to show what real decommunizations would meanfor Ukraine.

  • 9:31 President Putin: Everythingseemed to be working well in conditions of the totalitarian regime,and outwardly it looked wonderful, attractive and evensuper-democratic. And yet, it is a great pity that the fundamentaland formally legal foundations of our state were not promptlycleansed of the odious and utopian fantasies inspired by therevolution, which are absolutely destructive for any normalstate.

  • 10:05 President Putin: It seems thatthe Communist Party leaders were convinced that they had created asolid system of government and that their policies had settled theethnic issue for good. But falsification, misconception, andtampering with public opinion have a high cost. The virus ofnationalist ambitions is still with us, and the mine laid at theinitial stage to destroy state immunity to the disease ofnationalism was ticking. As I have already said, the mine was theright of secession from the Soviet Union.

  • 13:55 President Putin: Even two yearsbefore the collapse of the USSR, its fate was actuallypredetermined. It is now that radicals and nationalists, includingand primarily those in Ukraine, are taking credit for having gainedindependence. As we can see, this is absolutely wrong. Thedisintegration of our united country was brought about by thehistoric, strategic mistakes on the part of the Bolshevik leadersand the CPSU leadership, mistakes committed at different times instate-building and in economic and ethnic policies. The collapse ofthe historical Russia known as the USSR is on their conscience.

  • 14:39 President Putin: It was ourpeople who accepted the new geopolitical reality that took shapeafter the dissolution of the USSR, and recognised the newindependent states. Not only did Russia recognise these countries,but helped its CIS partners, even though it faced a very diresituation itself. This included our Ukrainian colleagues, whoturned to us for financial support many times from the very momentthey declared independence. Our country provided this assistancewhile respecting Ukraine’s dignity and sovereignty. According toexpert assessments, confirmed by a simple calculation of our energyprices, the subsidised loans Russia provided to Ukraine along witheconomic and trade preferences, the overall benefit for theUkrainian budget in the period from 1991 to 2013 amounted to $250billion.

  • 21:24 President Putin: A stablestatehood has never developed in Ukraine; its electoral and otherpolitical procedures just serve as a cover, a screen for theredistribution of power and property between various oligarchicclans. Corruption, which is certainly a challenge and a problem formany countries, including Russia, has gone beyond the usual scopein Ukraine. It has literally permeated and corroded Ukrainianstatehood, the entire system, and all branches of power. Radicalnationalists took advantage of the justified public discontent andsaddled the Maidan protest, escalating it to a coup d'état in 2014.They also had direct assistance from foreign states. According toreports, the US Embassy provided $1 million a day to support theso-called protest camp on Independence Square in Kiev. In addition,large amounts were impudently transferred directly to theopposition leaders’ bank accounts, tens of millions of dollars.

  • 23:37 President Putin: Maidan did notbring Ukraine any closer to democracy and progress. Havingaccomplished a coup d'état, the nationalists and those politicalforces that supported them eventually led Ukraine into an impasse,pushed the country into the abyss of civil war.

  • 26:30 President Putin: In fact, it allcame down to the fact that the collapse of the Ukrainian economywas accompanied by outright robbery of the citizens of the country,and Ukraine itself was simply driven under external control. It iscarried out not only at the behest of Western capitals, but also,as they say, directly on the spot through a whole network offoreign advisers, NGOs and other institutions deployed in Ukraine.They have a direct impact on all the most important personneldecisions, on all branches and levels of government: from thecentral and even to the municipal, on the main state-ownedcompanies and corporations, including Naftogaz, Ukrenergo,Ukrainian Railways, Ukroboronprom, Ukrposhta , Administration ofSea Ports of Ukraine. There is simply no independent court inUkraine. At the request of the West, the Kiev authorities gaverepresentatives of international organizations the pre-emptiveright to select members of the highest judicial bodies - theCouncil of Justice and the Qualification Commission of Judges. Inaddition, the US Embassy directly controls the National CorruptionPrevention Agency, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, theSpecialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, and the SupremeAnti-Corruption Court. All this is done under a plausible pretextto increase the effectiveness of the fight against corruption.Okay, but where are the results? Corruption has blossomed asluxuriantly, and blooms, more than ever. Are the Ukrainiansthemselves aware of all these managerial methods? Do theyunderstand that their country is not even under a political andeconomic protectorate, but reduced to the level of a colony with apuppet regime? The privatization of the state has led to the factthat the government, which calls itself the "power of patriots",has lost its national character and is consistently leading thematter towards the complete desovereignization of the country.

  • 31:04 President Putin: In March 2021,a new Military Strategy was adopted in Ukraine. This document isalmost entirely dedicated to confrontation with Russia and sets thegoal of involving foreign states in a conflict with our country.The strategy stipulates the organisation of what can be describedas a terrorist underground movement in Russia’s Crimea and inDonbass. It also sets out the contours of a potential war, whichshould end, according to the Kiev strategists, “with the assistanceof the international community on favourable terms forUkraine.”

  • 32:05 President Putin: As we know, ithas already been stated today that Ukraine intends to create itsown nuclear weapons, and this is not just bragging. Ukraine has thenuclear technologies created back in the Soviet times and deliveryvehicles for such weapons, including aircraft, as well as theSoviet-designed Tochka-U precision tactical missiles with a rangeof over 100 kilometres. But they can do more; it is only a matterof time. They have had the groundwork for this since the Sovietera. In other words, acquiring tactical nuclear weapons will bemuch easier for Ukraine than for some other states I am not goingto mention here, which are conducting such research, especially ifKiev receives foreign technological support.

  • 33:47 President Putin: Foreignadvisors supervise the activities of Ukraine’s armed forces andspecial services and we are well aware of this. Over the past fewyears, military contingents of NATO countries have been almostconstantly present on Ukrainian territory under the pretext ofexercises. The Ukrainian troop control system has already beenintegrated into NATO. This means that NATO headquarters can issuedirect commands to the Ukrainian armed forces, even to theirseparate units and squads. The United States and NATO have startedan impudent development of Ukrainian territory as a theatre ofpotential military operations. Their regular joint exercises areobviously anti-Russian. Last year alone, over 23,000 troops andmore than a thousand units of hardware were involved. A law hasalready been adopted that allows foreign troops to come to Ukrainein 2022 to take part in multinational drills. Understandably, theseare primarily NATO troops. This year, at least ten of these jointdrills are planned. Obviously, such undertakings are designed to bea cover-up for a rapid buildup of the NATO military group onUkrainian territory. This is all the more so since the network ofairfields upgraded with US help in Borispol, Ivano-Frankovsk,Chuguyev and Odessa, to name a few, is capable of transferring armyunits in a very short time. Ukraine’s airspace is open to flightsby US strategic and reconnaissance aircraft and drones that conductsurveillance over Russian territory. I will add that the US-builtMaritime Operations Centre in Ochakov makes it possible to supportactivity by NATO warships, including the use of precision weapons,against the Russian Black Sea Fleet and our infrastructure on theentire Black Sea Coast.

  • 36:54 President Putin: Article 17 ofthe Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that deploying foreignmilitary bases on its territory is illegal. However, as it turnsout, this is just a conventionality that can be easilycircumvented. Ukraine is home to NATO training missions which are,in fact, foreign military bases. They just called a base a missionand were done with it.

  • 37:16 President Putin: Kiev has longproclaimed a strategic course on joining NATO. Indeed, each countryis entitled to pick its own security system and enter into militaryalliances. There would be no problem with that, if it were not forone “but.” International documents expressly stipulate theprinciple of equal and indivisible security, which includesobligations not to strengthen one's own security at the expense ofthe security of other states. This is stated in the 1999 OSCECharter for European Security adopted in Istanbul and the 2010 OSCEAstana Declaration. In other words, the choice of pathways towardsensuring security should not pose a threat to other states, whereasUkraine joining NATO is a direct threat to Russia's security

  • 38:10 President Putin: Let me remindyou that at the Bucharest NATO summit held in April 2008, theUnited States pushed through a decision to the effect that Ukraineand, by the way, Georgia would become NATO members. Many Europeanallies of the United States were well aware of the risks associatedwith this prospect already then, but were forced to put up with thewill of their senior partner. The Americans simply used them tocarry out a clearly anti-Russian policy.

  • 38:41 President Putin: A number ofNATO member states are still very sceptical about Ukraine joiningNATO. We are getting signals from some European capitals telling usnot to worry since it will not happen literally overnight. In fact,our US partners are saying the same thing as well. “All right,then” we respond, “if it does not happen tomorrow, then it willhappen the day after tomorrow. What does it change from thehistorical perspective? Nothing at all.” Furthermore, we are awareof the US leadership’s position and words that active hostilitiesin eastern Ukraine do not rule out the possibility of that countryjoining NATO if it meets NATO criteria and overcomes corruption.All the while, they are trying to convince us over and over againthat NATO is a peace-loving and purely defensive alliance thatposes no threat to Russia. Again, they want us to take their wordfor it. But we are well aware of the real value of these words. In1990, when German unification was discussed, the United Statespromised the Soviet leadership that NATO jurisdiction or militarypresence will not expand one inch to the east and that theunification of Germany will not lead to the spread of NATO'smilitary organisation to the east. This is a quote. They issuedlots of verbal assurances, all of which turned out to be emptyphrases. Later, they began to assure us that the accession to NATOby Central and Eastern European countries would only improverelations with Moscow, relieve these countries of the fears steepedin their bitter historical legacy, and even create a belt ofcountries that are friendly towards Russia. However, the exactopposite happened. The governments of certain Eastern Europeancountries, speculating on Russophobia, brought their complexes andstereotypes about the Russian threat to the Alliance and insistedon building up the collective defence potentials and deploying themprimarily against Russia. Worse still, that happened in the 1990sand the early 2000s when, thanks to our openness and goodwill,relations between Russia and the West had reached a high level.Russia has fulfilled all of its obligations, including the pulloutfrom Germany, from Central and Eastern Europe, making an immensecontribution to overcoming the legacy of the Cold War. We haveconsistently proposed various cooperation options, including in theNATO-Russia Council and the OSCE formats. Moreover, I will saysomething I have never said publicly, I will say it now for thefirst time. When then outgoing US President Bill Clinton visitedMoscow in 2000, I asked him how America would feel about admittingRussia to NATO. I will not reveal all the details of thatconversation, but the reaction to my question was, let us say,quite restrained, and the Americans’ true attitude to thatpossibility can actually be seen from their subsequent steps withregard to our country. I am referring to the overt support forterrorists in the North Caucasus, the disregard for our securitydemands and concerns, NATO’s continued expansion, withdrawal fromthe ABM Treaty, and so on.

  • 43:05 President Putin: Today, oneglance at the map is enough to see to what extent Western countrieshave kept their promise to refrain from NATO’s eastward expansion.They just cheated. We have seen five waves of NATO expansion, oneafter another – Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary wereadmitted in 1999; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,Slovakia and Slovenia in 2004; Albania and Croatia in 2009;Montenegro in 2017; and North Macedonia in 2020. As a result, theAlliance, its military infrastructure has reached Russia’s borders.This is one of the key causes of the European security crisis; ithas had the most negative impact on the entire system ofinternational relations and led to the loss of mutual trust. Thesituation continues to deteriorate, including in the strategicarea. Thus, positioning areas for interceptor missiles are beingestablished in Romania and Poland as part of the US project tocreate a global missile defence system. It is common knowledge thatthe launchers deployed there can be used for Tomahawk cruisemissiles – offensive strike systems. In addition, the United Statesis developing its all-purpose Standard Missile-6, which can provideair and missile defence, as well as strike ground and surfacetargets. In other words, the allegedly defensive US missile defencesystem is developing and expanding its new offensive capabilities.The information we have gives us good reason to believe thatUkraine’s accession to NATO and the subsequent deployment of NATOfacilities has already been decided and is only a matter of time.We clearly understand that given this scenario, the level ofmilitary threats to Russia will increase dramatically, severaltimes over.

  • 45:07 President Putin: I will explainthat American strategic planning documents confirm the possibilityof a so-called preemptive strike at enemy missile systems. We alsoknow the main adversary of the United States and NATO. It isRussia. NATO documents officially declare our country to be themain threat to Euro-Atlantic security. Ukraine will serve as anadvanced bridgehead for such a strike.

  • 46:00 President Putin: Many Ukrainianairfields are located not far from our borders. NATO’s tacticalaviation deployed there, including precision weapon carriers, willbe capable of striking at our territory to the depth of theVolgograd-Kazan-Samara-Astrakhan line. The deployment ofreconnaissance radars on Ukrainian territory will allow NATO totightly control Russia’s airspace up to the Urals. Finally, afterthe US destroyed the INF Treaty, the Pentagon has been openlydeveloping many land-based attack weapons, including ballisticmissiles that are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to5,500 km. If deployed in Ukraine, such systems will be able to hittargets in Russia’s entire European part. The flying time ofTomahawk cruise missiles to Moscow will be less than 35 minutes;ballistic missiles from Kharkov will take seven to eight minutes;and hypersonic assault weapons, four to five minutes. It is like aknife to the throat. I have no doubt that they hope to carry outthese plans, as they did many times in the past, expanding NATOeastward, moving their military infrastructure to Russian bordersand fully ignoring our concerns, protests and warnings. Excuse me,but they simply did not care at all about such things and didwhatever they deemed necessary. Of course, they are going to behavein the same way in the future.

  • 47:46 President Putin: Russia hasalways advocated the resolution of the most complicated problems bypolitical and diplomatic means, at the negotiating table. We arewell aware of our enormous responsibility when it comes to regionaland global stability. Back in 2008, Russia put forth an initiativeto conclude a European Security Treaty under which not a singleEuro-Atlantic state or international organisation could strengthentheir security at the expense of the security of others. However,our proposal was rejected right off the bat on the pretext thatRussia should not be allowed to put limits on NATO activities.Furthermore, it was made explicitly clear to us that only NATOmembers can have legally binding security guarantees.

  • 48:35 President Putin: Last December,we handed over to our Western partners a draft treaty between theRussian Federation and the United States of America on securityguarantees, as well as a draft agreement on measures to ensure thesecurity of the Russian Federation and NATO member states. TheUnited States and NATO responded with general statements. Therewere kernels of rationality in them as well, but they concernedmatters of secondary importance and it all looked like an attemptto drag the issue out and to lead the discussion astray. Weresponded to this accordingly and pointed out that we were ready tofollow the path of negotiations, provided, however, that all issuesare considered as a package that includes Russia’s core proposalswhich contain three key points. First, to prevent further NATOexpansion. Second, to have the Alliance refrain from deployingassault weapon systems on Russian borders. And finally, rollingback the bloc's military capability and infrastructure in Europe towhere they were in 1997, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act wassigned. These principled proposals of ours have been ignored.

  • 50:21 President Putin: They are againtrying to blackmail us and are threatening us with sanctions,which, by the way, they will introduce no matter what as Russiacontinues to strengthen its sovereignty and its Armed Forces. To besure, they will never think twice before coming up with or justfabricating a pretext for yet another sanction attack regardless ofthe developments in Ukraine. Their one and only goal is to holdback the development of Russia.

  • 51:06 President Putin: I would like tobe clear and straightforward: in the current circumstances, whenour proposals for an equal dialogue on fundamental issues haveactually remained unanswered by the United States and NATO, whenthe level of threats to our country has increased significantly,Russia has every right to respond in order to ensure its security.That is exactly what we will do.

  • 51:33 President Putin: With regard tothe state of affairs in Donbass, we see that the ruling Kiev elitesnever stop publicly making clear their unwillingness to comply withthe Minsk Package of Measures to settle the conflict and are notinterested in a peaceful settlement. On the contrary, they aretrying to orchestrate a blitzkrieg in Donbass as was the case in2014 and 2015. We all know how these reckless schemes ended. Not asingle day goes by without Donbass communities coming undershelling attacks. The recently formed large military force makesuse of attack drones, heavy equipment, missiles, artillery andmultiple rocket launchers. The killing of civilians, the blockade,the abuse of people, including children, women and the elderly,continues unabated. As we say, there is no end in sight to this.Meanwhile, the so-called civilised world, which our Westerncolleagues proclaimed themselves the only representatives of,prefers not to see this, as if this horror and genocide, whichalmost 4 million people are facing, do not exist. But they do existand only because these people did not agree with the West-supportedcoup in Ukraine in 2014 and opposed the transition towards theNeanderthal and aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism which havebeen elevated in Ukraine to the rank of national policy. They arefighting for their elementary right to live on their own land, tospeak their own language, and to preserve their culture andtraditions. How long can this tragedy continue? How much longer canone put up with this? Russia has done everything to preserveUkraine’s territorial integrity. All these years, it haspersistently and patiently pushed for the implementation of UNSecurity Council Resolution 2202 of February 17, 2015, whichconsolidated the Minsk Package of Measures of February 12, 2015, tosettle the situation in Donbass. Everything was in vain. Presidentsand Rada deputies come and go, but deep down the aggressive andnationalistic regime that seized power in Kiev remains unchanged.It is entirely a product of the 2014 coup, and those who thenembarked on the path of violence, bloodshed and lawlessness did notrecognise then and do not recognise now any solution to the Donbassissue other than a military one. In this regard, I consider itnecessary to take a long overdue decision and to immediatelyrecognise the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People'sRepublic and the Lugansk People's Republic. I would like to ask theFederal Assembly of the Russian Federation to support this decisionand then ratify the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance withboth republics. These two documents will be prepared and signedshortly.

  • 54:52 President Putin: We want thosewho seized and continue to hold power in Kiev to immediately stophostilities. Otherwise, the responsibility for the possiblecontinuation of the bloodshed will lie entirely on the conscienceof Ukraine’s ruling regime.

Ukraineis 'longing for peace' says Zelensky at Munich SecurityConference

February 19, 2022

Transcript

Overview: Western powers should drop theirpolicy of "appeasement" toward Moscow, Ukrainian leader VolodymyrZelensky told a security forum Saturday, as fears mount of aRussian invasion of Ukraine.

Clips

  • 13:37 Vladimir Zelensky: Ukraine hasreceived security guarantees for abandoning the world’s thirdnuclear capability. We don’t have that weapon. We also have nosecurity.

  • 14:37 Vladimir Zelensky: Since 2014,Ukraine has tried three times to convene consultations with theguarantor states of the Budapest Memorandum. Three times withoutsuccess. Today Ukraine will do it for the fourth time. I, asPresident, will do this for the first time. But both Ukraine and Iare doing this for the last time. I am initiating consultations inthe framework of the Budapest Memorandum. The Minister of ForeignAffairs was commissioned to convene them. If they do not happenagain or their results do not guarantee security for our country,Ukraine will have every right to believe that the BudapestMemorandum is not working and all the package decisions of 1994 arein doubt.

President Biden Remarks on Russia-Ukraine Situation

February 18, 2022

YouTubeVersion

Transcript

Overview: Following talks with NATO allies, President Bidenprovided an update on Russia-Ukraine tensions and internationalefforts to resolve the crisis.

Clips

  • 3:04 President Biden: You know, look,we have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to andintend to attack Ukraine in the coming week — in the coming days.We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a city of2.8 million innocent people.War posturing - Biden US providedrecord security assistance to Ukraine

  • 4:00 President Biden: This past year,the United States provided a record amount of security assistanceto Ukraine to bolster its defensive — $650 million, from Javelinmissiles to ammunition. And we also previously provided $500million in Ukrai- — in humanitarian aid and economic support forUkraine. And earlier this week, we also announced an additionalsovereign loan guarantee of up to $1 billion to strengthenUkraine’s economic resilience.

  • 7:24 President Biden: Well, I don’tthink he is remotely contemplating nuclear — using nuclear weapons.But I do think it’s — I think he is focused on trying to convincethe world that he has the ability to change the dynamics in Europein a way that he cannot.

President Biden Remarks on Russia and Ukraine

February 15, 2022

YouTubeVersion

Transcript

Overview: President Biden gave an update ontensions between Russia and Ukraine, calling for diplomacy toresolve tensions.

Clips

  • 1:47 President Biden: The UnitedStates has put on the table concrete ideas to establish a securityenvironment in Europe. We’re proposing new arms control measures,new transparency measures, new strategic stability measures. Thesemeasures would apply to all parties — NATO and Russia alike.

  • 2:14 President Biden: We will notsacrifice basic principles, though. Nations have a right tosovereignty and territorial integrity. They have the freedom to settheir own course and choose with whom they will associate.

  • 3:17 President Biden: And the factremains: Right now, Russia has more than 150,000 troops encirclingUkraine in Belarus and along Ukraine’s border. An invasion remainsdistinctly possible. That’s why I’ve asked several times that allAmericans in Ukraine leave now before it’s too late to leavesafely. It is why we have temporarily relocated our embassy fromKyiv to Lviv in western Ukraine, approaching the Polish border.

  • 4:12 President Biden: The UnitedStates and NATO are not a threat to Russia. Ukraine is notthreatening Russia. Neither the U.S. nor NATO have missiles inUkraine. We do not — do not have plans to put them there aswell.

  • 4:26 President Biden: To the citizensof Russia: You are not our enemy. And I do not believe you want abloody, destructive war against Ukraine — a country and a peoplewith whom you share such deep ties of family, history, andculture.

  • 5:52 President Biden: Today, our NATOAllies and the Alliance is as unified and determined as it has everbeen. And the source of our unbreakable strength continues to bethe power, resilience, and universal appeal of our shareddemocratic values. Because this is about more than just Russia andUkraine. It’s about standing for what we believe in, for the futurewe want for our world.

  • 7:25 President Biden: And when itcomes to Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that would bring natural gasfrom Russia to Germany, if Russia further invades Ukraine, it willnot happen.

  • 7:35 President Biden: While I will notsend American servicemen to fight Russia in Ukraine, we havesupplied the Ukrainian military with equipment to help them defendthemselves. We have provided training and advice and intelligencefor the same purpose.

  • 7:50 President Biden: And make nomistake: The United States will defend every inch of NATO territorywith the full force of American power. An attack against one NATOcountry is an attack against all of us. And the United Statescommitment to Article 5 is sacrosanct. Already, in response toRussia’s build-up of troops, I have sent additional U.S. forces tobolster NATO’s eastern flank. Several of our Allies have alsoannounced they’ll add forces and capabilities to ensure deterrenceand defense along NATO’s eastern flank. We will also continue toconduct military exercises with our Allies and partners to enhancedefensive readiness. And if Russia invades, we will take furthersteps to reinforce our presence in NATO, reassure our Allies, anddeter further aggression.

  • 9:12 President Biden: I will notpretend this will be painless. There could be impact on our energyprices, so we are taking active steps to alleviate the pressure onour own energy markets and offset rising prices. We’re coordinatingwith major enersy [sic] — energy consumers and producers. We’reprepared to deploy all the tools and authority at our disposal toprovide relief at the gas pump. And I will work with Congress onadditional measures to help protect consumers and address theimpact of prices at the pump.

Hearing on U.S. Policy Toward Russia

Senate Committee onForeign Relations
December 7, 2021

Overview: Victoria Nuland, the undersecretaryof state for political affairs, testified at a Senate ForeignRelations Committee hearing on U.S. policy toward Russia. Sheaddressed President Biden’s earlier call with Russian PresidentVladimir Putin and said that Russia would suffer severeconsequences if it attacked Ukraine. Other topics included the useof sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine, the cooperation of NATO andU.S. allies, Russia’s use of energy during conflict, and the NordStream 2 Pipeline

Clips

  • 10:42 Victoria Nuland: Since 2014 TheUnited States has provided Ukraine with $2.4 billion in securityassistance including $450 million this year alone.

  • 30:55 Sen. Todd Young (R-IN):President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov have repeatedlyindicated that they seek to deny any potential path to NATOmembership for Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Doesthe administration view this demand is a valid issue fornegotiation? Victoria Nuland: No we do not andPresident Biden made that point crystal clear to President Putintoday that the issue of who joins NATO is an issue for NATO todecide it's an issue for applicant countries to decide that noother outside power will or may have a veto or a vote in thosedecisions.

Foreign Affairs Issue Launch with Former Vice President JoeBiden

January 23, 2018

Clips

  • 24:30 Former Vice President Biden:I’ll give you one concrete example. I was—not I, but it justhappened to be that was the assignment I got. I got all the goodones. And so I got Ukraine. And I remember going over, convincingour team, our leaders to—convincing that we should be providing forloan guarantees. And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time toKiev. And I was supposed to announce that there was anotherbillion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment fromPoroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action againstthe state prosecutor. And they didn’t. So they said they had—theywere walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not goingto—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said,you have no authority. You’re not the president. The presidentsaid—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’renot getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting thebillion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about sixhours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If theprosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son ofa bitch. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someonewho was solid at the time.

Cover Art

Design by Only Child Imaginations

Music Presented in This Episode

Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found onMusic Alley by mevio)

Congressional Dish: CD248: Understanding the Enemy (2024)

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