WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.960 JUDY WOODRUFF: When Russia's President Vladimir Putin spoke about the crisis in Ukraine today, 00:04.960 --> 00:08.400 it was the first time he had done so in four months. 00:08.400 --> 00:13.400 His remarks come as more than 100,000 Russian troops now surround Ukraine on three sides. 00:15.200 --> 00:17.120 Nick Schifrin has our coverage, 00:17.120 --> 00:22.120 beginning with a new Russian military base in Brest in far western Belarus. 00:24.320 --> 00:29.320 On the border of Russian-allied Belarus and NATO member Poland, Russian soldiers today 00:29.440 --> 00:33.920 set up shop. The West fears they could invade Ukraine to the south at any time. 00:34.480 --> 00:38.080 But, in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed diplomacy. 00:38.080 --> 00:39.920 VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): I hope that, 00:39.920 --> 00:43.920 in the end, we will find the solution. Though it is not easy, we are aware of it. 00:43.920 --> 00:47.920 NICK SCHIFRIN: But his message was mixed. Following a meeting with Hungarian Prime 00:47.920 --> 00:52.920 Minister Viktor Orban, Putin also said recent U.S. and NATO documents disregarded his demands. 00:53.760 --> 00:58.760 VLADIMIR PUTIN (through translator): We didn't see an adequate response to our three key demands, 00:59.200 --> 01:04.200 preventing expansion of NATO, the nondeployment of strike weapon systems near Russian borders, 01:04.800 --> 01:09.800 and returning the military infrastructure of NATO in Europe to the positions existing in 1997. 01:10.240 --> 01:14.720 NICK SCHIFRIN: In fact, the U.S. rejected those demands, and even today showed off 01:14.720 --> 01:19.280 American jets in NATO member Estonia, just a few hundred miles from the Russian border. 01:21.600 --> 01:24.480 Instead, the U.S. is offering to discuss with Russia mutual 01:24.480 --> 01:29.200 limits on Eastern European exercises, like these in Poland, and missile deployments, 01:29.200 --> 01:34.200 by reviving the defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF. Senior U.S. 01:34.240 --> 01:38.400 officials said that's what Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister 01:38.400 --> 01:43.280 Sergey Lavrov talked about on the phone today, and would form the basis of future diplomacy. 01:43.280 --> 01:48.280 NED PRICE, State Department Spokesman: We are prepared to engage in serious diplomacy 01:48.800 --> 01:50.960 with the Russian Federation on a reciprocal basis. 01:50.960 --> 01:53.840 WOMAN: Moscow trying to rebuild the Soviet empire. 01:53.840 --> 01:55.440 NICK SCHIFRIN: In Ukraine's Parliament today, 01:55.440 --> 01:59.200 a show of thanks for NATO countries that have supported Ukraine's military. 02:00.080 --> 02:03.360 In the last few weeks, the United Kingdom has increased its support, 02:03.360 --> 02:08.360 including with weapons designed to destroy Russian tanks. Today, British Prime Minister 02:09.120 --> 02:13.200 Boris Johnson became the first Western head of government to visit Ukrainian President 02:13.200 --> 02:18.200 Volodymyr Zelensky during the current crisis. Both warned, war could challenge Europe's future. 02:18.400 --> 02:21.280 VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, Ukrainian President (through translator): This is not going 02:21.280 --> 02:26.280 to be a war of Ukraine and Russia. This is going to be a European war, a full-fledged war. 02:28.960 --> 02:30.400 BORIS JOHNSON, British Prime Minister: Yes, of course, it's about 02:30.960 --> 02:35.960 Ukraine, and that matters deeply to us. But this is about something even bigger, 02:36.640 --> 02:40.640 I'm afraid. It's about the whole European security architecture. 02:40.640 --> 02:44.400 NICK SCHIFRIN: Over the last few months, the Europeans emphasized a unified front 02:44.400 --> 02:48.320 against Russia, amongst themselves and with their American counterparts. 02:48.320 --> 02:52.480 But French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken to Putin twice in four days, 02:52.480 --> 02:56.640 endorses E.U. talks with Russia, instead of U.S.-Russia talks. 02:56.640 --> 03:01.040 Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who talked to Putin today, has downplayed the 03:01.040 --> 03:06.040 Russian threat. Germany sent Ukraine helmets, but refuses to send weapons, and publicly 03:06.400 --> 03:11.400 declines to threaten to kill the German-Russian pipeline Nord Stream 2 in case of invasion. 03:12.000 --> 03:16.240 Meanwhile, the NATO countries along Russia's border, including the Baltics and Poland, 03:16.240 --> 03:20.720 lend their full support. Today, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki 03:20.720 --> 03:23.600 criticized Germany for giving Putin leverage over Europe. 03:24.400 --> 03:27.040 MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI, Prime Minister of Poland (through translator): By launching Nord Stream 2, 03:27.040 --> 03:31.840 Berlin is giving Putin the weapon which he will use to blackmail the whole of Europe. 03:31.840 --> 03:34.400 NICK SCHIFRIN: For more on whether Europe is 03:34.400 --> 03:38.640 united in the face of Russian threats to Ukraine and NATO, we get two views. 03:39.280 --> 03:44.280 Kasia (ph) Pisarska is chair of the Warsaw Security Forum, a NATO-sponsored organization 03:44.800 --> 03:49.800 that hosts high-level conferences on security. She is also chair of the European Academy of Diplomacy 03:50.320 --> 03:55.320 and professor at the Warsaw School of Economics. And Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff is vice president 03:56.480 --> 04:00.560 and director of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, 04:00.560 --> 04:04.880 a think tank that promotes U.S.-European cooperation. 04:04.880 --> 04:07.440 Welcome both to the "NewsHour." 04:07.440 --> 04:08.960 Kasia Pisarska, let me start with you. 04:08.960 --> 04:10.960 What is your reaction to what we just heard, 04:10.960 --> 04:15.200 those mixed messages from Vladimir Putin, on the one hand, endorsing 04:15.200 --> 04:19.920 the idea of diplomacy, but also saying the U.S. and NATO failed to meet his demands? 04:19.920 --> 04:21.040 KATARZYNA PISARSKA, Warsaw Security Forum: Well, 04:21.040 --> 04:25.440 let's be honest. It's not been a good week for Vladimir Putin. 04:25.440 --> 04:30.440 This past few days, we have seen unprecedented unity on the side of many NATO member states, 04:34.640 --> 04:39.640 for the first time really trying to put together sanctions that would hurt. 04:40.880 --> 04:45.880 From the United Kingdom declaring that it will sanction oligarchs, Russian oligarchs 04:46.880 --> 04:50.560 living in the U.K., and nothing is off the table here, 04:50.560 --> 04:55.560 to Denmark, or, of course, the Baltic states, Poland already sending arms to Ukraine. 04:58.000 --> 05:03.000 So Vladimir Putin sees that the Western alliance, that the NATO allegiance is extremely serious. 05:05.120 --> 05:09.360 NICK SCHIFRIN: Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, is that how you see it, Western unity 05:09.920 --> 05:11.520 in the face of Russian aggression? 05:11.520 --> 05:14.240 THOMAS KLEINE-BROCKHOFF, German Marshall Fund: Well, that Europeans disagreed 05:14.240 --> 05:18.320 with each other would be nothing unusual. That's what happens all 05:18.320 --> 05:22.400 the time at -- the European Union is a compromise machine to deal with it. 05:23.280 --> 05:28.280 The unusual thing now is, indeed, as Kasia said, unity. Folks sing from the same song sheet, 05:31.760 --> 05:36.760 and I think that is what Vladimir Putin achieved with his threat. And, in some ways, 05:40.160 --> 05:44.800 that may not be what he expected, what he expected to hear. 05:44.800 --> 05:47.920 Now, there is nuances. There always will be nuances. 05:47.920 --> 05:52.920 But the big message is that I think Western countries, European countries have understood 05:53.840 --> 05:55.840 what this is about and what the threat is. 05:55.840 --> 05:59.280 NICK SCHIFRIN: Kasia Pisarska, but are there not differences? 06:00.080 --> 06:04.320 We have Germany, for example, not sending weapons to Ukraine, 06:04.320 --> 06:08.000 refusing to publicly say that Nord Stream 2 would be canceled 06:08.000 --> 06:13.000 in the face of invasion, while, as you said, the U.K. and eastern flank countries are 06:13.360 --> 06:18.360 supporting Ukraine military and trying to publicly support Zelensky himself in Kyiv. 06:19.680 --> 06:24.480 KATARZYNA PISARSKA: I say this with great regret sitting here in Warsaw, that Germany has 06:24.480 --> 06:29.480 lost an incredible chance for its foreign policy, 06:29.520 --> 06:33.840 for the new government's foreign policy to really stand up to the challenge. 06:34.640 --> 06:38.080 I do agree. And this is also the assessment, the regional assessment, 06:38.080 --> 06:43.080 not only here in Warsaw, but also in Bucharest, in the Baltic states, and surely in Ukraine, 06:44.640 --> 06:49.640 that, because of fears, lack of public support, some historical issues, 06:51.840 --> 06:56.840 it has not taken the challenge of actually leading the European Union in responding to this crisis. 06:57.760 --> 07:01.840 This is a stark contrast to what Angela Merkel has been doing for many years. 07:02.560 --> 07:07.560 And it was her very clear stance on the annexation of Crimea in 2014 07:08.160 --> 07:13.160 that allowed the E.U. to create a package of sanctions that we expanded in 2015 07:14.000 --> 07:19.000 and actually sustained these sanctions over the long term. This leadership is missed. 07:19.280 --> 07:23.040 NICK SCHIFRIN: Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, is that how you see it? Germany has failed to lead? 07:23.040 --> 07:27.920 THOMAS KLEINE-BROCKHOFF: Here's where the nuances that I talked about come in. 07:27.920 --> 07:32.920 It is true that this is a new government that hasn't found its footing yet. 07:34.000 --> 07:39.000 This is a government -- this is a German government that he comes in as a domestic 07:39.040 --> 07:44.040 reform government with a fragile coalition. And now they are being -- they're catching 07:49.040 --> 07:54.040 up to reality, that there is a reality beyond their nice program of industrial transformation. 07:55.200 --> 07:59.840 All of a sudden, foreign policy intrudes into their plans, and they are not prepared for that. 08:01.680 --> 08:06.680 And it is no surprise, certainly not to me, that Germany is not hawkish, is not forward-leaning 08:08.880 --> 08:13.880 when it comes to Russia. But make no mistake. This government will be part of the Western alliance 08:18.560 --> 08:23.560 should Vladimir Putin move. And they will be part of a sanctions regime. 08:25.200 --> 08:28.800 NICK SCHIFRIN: Kasia Pisarska, I wonder if we could talk about France and Italy. 08:28.800 --> 08:32.960 We have seen the leaders of those countries speaking directly with Vladimir Putin 08:32.960 --> 08:36.560 over the last few days, including Macron twice in the last four days. 08:37.120 --> 08:42.120 Is there a difference between the diplomacy that they are trying to engage with Russia 08:43.200 --> 08:48.200 and the more forcible stance that the Brits, that the Poles have taken with Ukraine? 08:48.720 --> 08:50.240 KATARZYNA PISARSKA: Absolutely. 08:50.240 --> 08:55.240 From a Central European perspective, there are fears -- and some of these are legitimate 08:57.200 --> 09:02.200 fears -- that France will be soft on Russia and Italy will be soft on Russia, much softer 09:06.080 --> 09:11.080 if there is no real threat for Vladimir Putin in terms of large costs, sanctions, 09:13.520 --> 09:18.520 and also, most importantly, those type of actions that would hurt oligarchs and Putin's money 09:23.760 --> 09:27.920 that is in different places around the West. 09:27.920 --> 09:31.360 Then he will probably see this as weakness, 09:31.920 --> 09:36.920 and will -- that will only give a reason for him to move forward into Ukraine. 09:37.760 --> 09:40.960 NICK SCHIFRIN: Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, is there softness, is there a weakness 09:40.960 --> 09:44.400 that you see in France and perhaps other countries, including Italy? 09:44.400 --> 09:48.560 THOMAS KLEINE-BROCKHOFF: First, these are 30 countries in NATO 09:49.120 --> 09:54.120 that heads of state and heads of government talk independently with Mr. Putin, 09:54.640 --> 09:59.120 is their right. It is just important that we all sing from the same song sheet. 10:00.000 --> 10:04.640 Unfortunately, with Mr. Macron. We don't know about his song sheet. We don't know 10:04.640 --> 10:09.280 what he's -- there's been no pre-briefings. There's been no post-briefings. This is what 10:09.280 --> 10:14.280 concerns me. Mr. Macron has talked about the need for a new European security architecture 10:17.520 --> 10:22.520 just a few days ago, at a time when Mr. Putin is threatening that very architecture. 10:26.160 --> 10:30.240 So, one would -- one would wonder what that conversation would have to be 10:31.200 --> 10:34.880 like. So, I'm waiting for him to give us a readout of it, 10:34.880 --> 10:39.880 just as we have expected and received from our American friends to be -- that to be the case. 10:41.040 --> 10:46.040 Mr. Macron is the president of the European Council at the moment, 10:46.080 --> 10:50.160 so he has every right to move forward, but he needs to communicate with the rest of us. 10:50.160 --> 10:55.160 NICK SCHIFRIN: Kasia Pisarska, Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, thank you very much to you both.