‘Message to Russia’: Biden and Zelenskyy to sign security deal

‘Message to Russia’: Biden and Zelenskyy to sign security deal

NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez is traveling with the president in Italy Evelyn farcus is the former senior adviser to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia and Ukraine and the executive director of the McCain Institute and David ignacius is foreign columnist and Associated editor of the Washington post as well as an MSNBC contributor so Gabe can you give us more details on what is happening in Italy what this deal does and doesn’t do good afternoon Jose well this deal is meant to send a strong message to Russia and it comes just a day after the US expanded sanctions against Russia now as you alluded to this is meant to show a commitment to Ukraine over the next 10 years and the US is promising to train and equip uh Ukraine’s military now what it is not doing Jose is committing US troops to go into Ukrainian territory at any point to defend it but again this is an executive um agreement by feral security agreement excuse me being signed by President Biden in just a short time here within the hour UK Ukrainian president zalinski and he and him are set to hold a joint joint press conference that so Evelyn no guarantee of more Aid what is the value of this agreement well Jose I think that if you look beyond the money and you know maybe we’ll get into other sources of money that Ukraine will now have access to it means that the United States will be um directed by the executive branch to help Ukraine build its defense industry um that actually you know in the in the bureaucratic world does mean something it it lifts up a lot of restrictions on maybe technology sharing and um May provide also some additional um boosts to investors uh they may also have to go through us um us investment channel so our our um DFC but um which is a bank that provides um loans to companies that want to invest and do business in places like Ukraine so I think that it it is actually significant and obviously the political signal that that we are saying you know we are committed to Ukraine regardless of whether they are a member of NATO a very strong political message no doubt David how is the reality on the ground in Ukraine years into this Russian attack into that Homeland so the situation increasingly returns to one of stalemate the Russians appeared to to be on the offensive in the long period when Ukraine was waiting for us arms to arrive after the House of Representatives delayed approval of those arms now that they’re arriving now that the US has eased restrictions on how Ukraine can use them Ukraine can now fire them into Russian some weapons into Russian territory it appears that the Russian offensive has slowed most reports from the front describe that at the same time Ukraine is using the new weapons it has uh especially the attack of his missiles to attack aggressively Uh Russian occupied Crimea so we’re in a situation where uh again uh the two sides at enormous cost are are fighting it out without much gain on the ground either way I think the agreement that President Biden is signing with president ziny is symbolism but it’s important symbolism it’s a message to ukrainians who are bloodied by this war so severely the United States remains with them there’s a sense of continuity and it’s a message to Russia don’t assume you can wait this out don’t assume that you can just wait for Donald Trump to be elected or the American public to become exhausted with the war because here’s a commitment executive order yes but like the military commitments we have with many countries around the world who are allies not formal treaty allies but have have military relationships with us just the same Ukraine now has one formally and I think in that sense it’s important symbolism and David just wondering I mean the the losses that Russia has been taking for a long time now I mean some say maybe up to a thousand losses per day in this campaign is this something that Putin can continue having without any cost so so Jose it’s it’s a meat grinder for both sides most recent us estimates are over 350,000 Russian dead and wounded in this war over two years Putin seems to be able to sustain the war he was reelected but the polls suggest he’s probably more popular now than When The War Began there is a point at which the Russians become exhausted but there’s no sign that that it’s been reached yet there were interestingly some financial troubles in in Moscow financial markets today if if life gets much more difficult for the average Russian Moscow or St Petersburg maybe you’ll see beginning of popular uh Rebellion against the policy but I don’t see any sign of that yet yeah I mean Evelyn you were talking about this the the very strong messages that are coming out of the G7 meeting Visa V Russia the messages of you know do not for example even expanding some sanctions on on Russia however Russia is really their reaction for example they they just sent ships three military ships and a Russian nuclear submarine to Cuba Moscow says it’s armed with a new top-of-the-line Hypersonic missiles these three uh ships are and they’re just you know right off the coast of Florida soon what does it tell you about Russia’s geopolitical strategy right now well I think um Jose to to kind of um echo or or um underscore what my very smart friend David ignacius just said about the you know Russia the situation in Russia it doesn’t look very good Vladimir Putin is clearly very upset about a couple of things um first the fact that we now you know took away the restrictions that we had placed on the use of the Weaponry we were providing the ukrainians so that they can now use them to attack valid military targets inside of Russia and um you know we are now providing them with this political reassurance and this very public sign of support um Vladimir Putin got so mad that yes he sent warships to Cuba and that is actually an escalation from the past when I was in the Pentagon in 2014 2015 it wasn’t uncommon to see Russia sending spy ships intelligence gathering ships to um off the even the US Coast so in 2014 2015 after the Crimea Invasion and our robust response the the Russians sent an intelligence gathering ship uh of the small um group of ships off the coast of Florida they lingered there for quite some time this is an escalation because these are warships the other quick thing I want to mention is that today they announced that they are accusing they’re indicting um Evan gersich The Wall Street Journal reporter that they have jailed imprisoned um with no um right to trial thus far and of course he won’t get a free trial they’re they’re calling him a spy so that’s another thing that happened to today again more evidence that um Putin doesn’t like this and he’s he’s basically um not doing very well this is this is not welcome for him you know David I’m just wondering your thoughts on this I mean you know one immediately when one hears you know ships and warships thinks of October 1962 and and certainly the 13 days that RFK wrote about but it’s it’s a clear message from Putin that this is something that is happening right at the us back door so Jose I think you got exactly right this is a deliberate attempt to evoke the most serious crisis uh in terms of nuclear confrontation um in Cold War history the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 Putin has done it very deliberately just as he and former president medv keeps speaking about possible use of tactical nuclear weapons they’re trying to intimidate uh United States and Europe by throwing up the Spectre that this could escalate into a nuclear conflict that’s part of Russia’s strategy I think increasingly as us officials watch this they’re skeptical that Russia really will take these steps I mean for goodness sakes Russia’s having trouble even moving West in Ukraine a tiny country does it really propose to take on the United States and Europe in some major conflict that would escalate up to up to to nuclear war it just there’s a there’s an as aspect of this I think that really is as we said earlier theater it’s it’s meant to it’s meant to frighten it’s meant to to break resolve um I’d be be very curious about how the US responds to this in terms of its own signaling when another country does something like this sends sends nuclear equipped ships into a port there’s often something we don’t see but it’s meant to Signal back we get it we match you in the same symbolic way and so Gabe also today the G7 reached a deal to use profits from the $300 billion doll and Frozen Russian assets to back a $50 billion loan to the ukrainians what can you tell us about that yeah Jose the G7 countries have been trying to hash out the deal uh the details of this uh for a while but the G7 leaders have agreed as you said to take that $300 billion in Frozen Russian assets which again have been um started back in 2022 there’s about 300 billion in Frozen Russian assets across the world much of it held in Belgium but they plan to use the interest off of that which is estimated to be about $50 billion over the next 10 years the G7 leaders will give that money to Ukraine upfront in the form of a loan to help Ukraine on the battlefield now Jose Before I Let You Go I do want to tell you something that um I was just told President Biden was asked a question just within the past few moments he was asked whether he had spoken about the uh a SE a possible ceasefire uh deal in the Israel Hamas War the president confirmed that he had already spoken about that deal with world leaders he was asked whether he was confident there would be a deal he responded no but that he still has hope Jose thank you for that last minute update on that and and David I just want your thoughts on you know the President Biden is going there to Southern Italy to meet with these leaders that have different political reality just a couple of days ago because of the elections that were held throughout Europe so this is a world and a Europe where incumbents are are Under Fire um there there is some uh rightward movement uh in in Germany and other countries there’s leftward movement in Britain where prime minister sunak is likely to lose to the British labor party so it’s hard I think to draw a single Trend other than voter frustration with the status quo something we’re very familiar with in in the United States uh but it’s you’re seeing that all over the world I think it’s interesting to see the G7 this group that’s supposed to symbolize stability continuity the major Powers sailing forward each country in some ways is is facing uh very uh uncertain goinging because of domestic political pressures for

President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy are expected to sign a 10-year security deal. NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez explains more about the agreement. Former Senior Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe Evelyn Farkas and Washington Post foreign columnist David Ignatius weigh in on the important symbolism of it.

» Subscribe to MSNBC: https://www.youtube.com/msnbc

Download our new MSNBC app for the latest breaking news and daily headlines at a glance: https://www.msnbc.com/information/download-msnbc-app-n1241692

Follow MSNBC Show Blogs
MaddowBlog: https://www.msnbc.com/maddowblog
ReidOut Blog: https://www.msnbc.com/reidoutblog

MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, The Beat with Ari Melber, Deadline: White House, The ReidOut, All In, Last Word, 11th Hour, and Alex Wagner who brings her breadth of reporting experience to MSNBC primetime. Watch “Alex Wagner Tonight” Tuesday through Friday at 9pm Eastern.

Connect with MSNBC Online
Visit msnbc.com: https://www.msnbc.com/
Subscribe to the MSNBC Daily Newsletter: https://link.msnbc.com/join/5ck/msnbc-daily-signup
Find MSNBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msnbc/
Follow MSNBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSNBC

#Russia #Ukraine #Biden