we have seen that they speak to their plans. they have done what they actually calling for -- plan for a long time ago. we need to understand that within all of these weeks and months when they said they had no plans invading ukraine, they had plans. there were not only having plans, but they actually built up all of these forces with one clear -- that would invade ukraine. despite telling us, the world, and the public we have no plans to invade ukraine. yes, they have plans. now we are seeing they were serious about invading ukraine all the time. never serious about really engaging in diplomatic efforts. what we are seeing now is a full-fledged invasion of ukraine

from multiple directions. we see air land, naval forces taking -- we see air, land, naval forces taking part. this is extreme. it is an attack on the peaceful, sovereign independent nation. it is a war of a time in a scale we actually thought was part of eastern europe, now it is back and it is imposing a norman suffering on the innocent people in ukraine. -- enormous suffering on the innocent people in ukraine. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. this concludes this press conference. >> coming up soon president biden will address the nation. he will be speaking from the east room of the white house.

live coverage was originally set for 12:30 and is now set for 1:30. we will have live coverage. members of congress discussing -- tweeting the whole world must condemn the actions. it is a true threat to global security. our allies response should ensure that putin pays dearly of this gross violation of international law. >> i am paying for ukraine but thoughts and prayers are not enough. you must give them -- humanitarian -- unprecedented actions. congressman greg pence of indiana, president biden must spend -- must send a clear message to putin. russians invasion of ukraine is a direct threat to -- global stability. we will have live coverage of

president biden's remark on the russian invasion of ukraine at 1:30 here on c-span. we adjourned that join now -- the acting director of the canning institute as we continue discuss the russian invasion of ukraine. host: your biggest immediate concerns right now and what you are expecting from president biden when he addresses the nation. we are expecting that to happen around 12 noon today. guest: what i am expecting from president biden is a condemnation of what the russian federation has done in ukraine and the implementation of massive sanctions in coordination with host: our european allies. host:massive sanctions. what does that mean? we have heard about crippling sanctions?

guest: the united states has already envisioned what level of sanctions we want to implement but they are severe in terms of limitations on the export of technology and software. there is still the question as to whether we will implement a sanction on the swiss system. i think everything now is on the table. it will be very important to have a united front with our european allies in any sort of sanction program. host: in storm -- in terms of your biggest concerns, several concerned about escalation to the point of nuclear escalation. a lot of folks pointing out that it was not expected that we would get this far. how far could this go? what would you say? guest: that obviously would

depend on vladimir putin and whether he would want to escalate to a nuclear confrontation. i think based on the initial assault on ukraine, it is still a military operation and invasion with several flanks and with the likely possibility that the russians will try to occupy kyiv and the don boss and several ukrainian cities. in terms of a military operation, it is still i think a conventional operation but one in clear violation of international law and a host of international -- host: in terms of what is next, we are hearing talk of refugees already fleeing the country when it comes to an occupation, what could that mean for ukraine?

explain what you think might happen here in the days and weeks to come. guest: i think the indications are that putin and the russians will try to go after kyiv and sees kyiv. this will result in thousands and tens of thousands of refugees. the key variable for such an assault would be whether the russians have enough troops to occupy kyiv and to the other major cities. as military experts have pointed out, for a occupation, russia needs boots on the ground and we still do not know whether 150,000 or 250,000 troops are enough to occupy ukraine, a country of -- host: wayne pomerantz of the wilson center. we want to take you or phone calls.

republicans (202) 748-8001 (202) 748-8000, democrats, (202) 748-8002 independents. mr. palmer it's with this until the bottom of the hour. start calling in. we will get to as many of the calls as we can. as folks are calling in, this tweet from not too long ago. it is from the ukrainian president. russia treacherously attacked our state as nazi germany did in the second world war. our countries are on different sides of world history. russia has embarked on a path of evil. ukraine will defend itself and will not give up its democracy -- will not give up its freedom. could this have been avoided? consent of -- could something have been done different to do for -- to deter putin? guest: judging from the speech

that putin gave two days ago when he described the rationale for this invasion, this is something that vladimir putin has been thinking about for 30 years. he believes -- he does not believe in the independence of ukraine. he does not believe that ukraine is an independent country or nation. he has fought this evidently from the beginning. we can argue about whether some sort of concessions were possible. whether the minsk agreement was viable or not. with vladimir putin's recognition of the breakaway republics, the minsk agreement is over and it is quite clear that he never really wanted to negotiate. i think we have to say, this is vladimir putin's invasion and it is all because of vladimir putin's world viewpoint. host: a quick primer on the

minsk agreement. guest: the minsk agreement was what enabled a cease-fire in 2014 and required negotiations between kyiv and the breakaway republic. the conditions under the minsk agreement were very onerous especially for kyiv. it was essentially have to allow a veto power to the two breakaway republics and if kyiv had acknowledged that and agree to that it would also have ended the independence and the unity of the ukrainian state. host: this is chuck, from jefferson georgia. caller: i've got two questions. was genghis khan a genius? host: we are talking about russia and ukraine right now. caller: he came out of russia,

and that is what putin is doing. the nord stream 2 thing -- is it a penalty for russia? host: nord stream 2 one and two pipelines. guest: germany has suspended the licensure of the two pipelines so the germans have in fact issued the most severe sanction on russia because they have stopped the flow of natural gas from russia to the european continent. host: nord stream 2 1 -- is there any chance that nord stream 2 could come back? is this a temporary block? guest: it is where that nord stream 2 one and two not come back in the near term and that the agreements to license

massive pipeline is not in the cards. host: democrat, you are next. caller: quick observation, it seems to me that russia is at war with ukraine finally. it seems to me that for the world on a larger scale, the war between democracy and authoritarianism has begun. guest: russia represents a different worldview. it has a long autocratic tradition and russia now has used its history -- or putin has used its history to justify what is a violation of international law. yes, the idea that somehow we would cohabitate in the 1970's and 1980's and the idea that somehow we could make russia a

democratic country in the 1990's and 2000, i think that is off the agenda for the time being. it will not return for a long time. host: knoxville, tennessee. independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. first off, i got two things. i want to make a shout out to brisbane author who wrote a love letter to america in 1984. he pretty much predicted all of this. secondly, i think the federal government should make an alliance with india based on the fact that putin has met with china, argentina, and pakistan and i believe those are the moves you make before a large local -- large global conflict. host: do putin's designs outside of ukraine -- what should this teach us about what he could be

seeking? guest: i think at the present time, he is seeking the conquest of ukraine. whether that will go into the other post warsaw pact nations, poland and so forth. we will have to see. unfortunately, everything now is on the table in terms of reacting to putin. i do not think his aspirations will just be limited to ukraine. host: what could congress consider when they come back next week? this is a tweet from congressman darren soto. he says that we have already armed -- further financial support to be considered by congress without delay. we are waiting here for the prep from -- what is congress's next step? guest: i think congress will return to the question, i think

congress will demand that biden introduced sanctions, severe sanctions on russia grade you might remember that six month ago biden decided not to introduce sanctions on the companies that had built the nord stream 2 pipeline because he wanted to reestablish good relations with europe and with germany. i think that is now -- biden has established good relationships with germany and the new leadership in germany but i think congress will now step up and demand that the president has these sanctions on you crook -- on russia. host: republican, good morning. caller: my heart bleeds for the ukrainian people. you watch them and they want -- they were living a life they we

were living in america. they were trying to be good. it is so sad. their past leaders have been absolutely crooks. this is so sad to watch. let us face it. putin does not want to see it. he does not want to see a country with democracy. this oil thing and this food thing and this inflation thing, this is all -- they could put all of these tricks that you want. this is biden's stuff. biden has done this to our food. he says it is inflation. we cannot buy a car. we have always been able to buy a car. host: our focus is on ukraine and russia. in terms of where the russian economy is weakest, where shane sheehan would hurt most -- where sanctions would hurt most, can you give a bit of a overview? guest: the russian economy is

under pressure right now. there has been rising inflation. russian is not a global economic power. the united states and -- can do is impose sanctions on the financial system we can impose sanctions on cuba dunes cronies. -- on putin's cronies. the technology that russia needs. i think that is the basic element of the so-called massive sanctions that biden will introduce. it will be very interesting to see if the biden -- if biden can convince the europeans to go along with the expulsion of russia from the swiss system. when i outlined about -- the basic elements. host: who are the oligarchs?

are we talking about dozens or hundreds? guest: the oligarchs -- they are the economic elite of russia. you could also call them the robber barons of russia. these are the people who have -- who have accumulated vast portions after the collapse of the soviet union. the most part and basically all of them have sworn loyalties to putin and to the russian state. going after the over's and their wealth will be a major consequence of this action. i do not think they will rebel against putin. they will take it on the chin. going after the economic elites of russia is basically behind the program of going after oligarchs. host: is vladimir putin dependent on the oligarchs or

are the oligarchs dependent on vladimir putin? guest: the oligarchs are more dependent on vladimir putin. they do not challenge him politically and their wealth is largely dependent on their loyalties to vladimir putin. as you recall, there have been various attempts to go after oligarchs who are deemed disloyal to putin. the trial and conviction of -- is the best example of that. host: does vladimir putin care if an oligarchs loses a yacht? guest: no. host: what would going after them mean? what is the point? guest: it would be going after their finances that are sequestered abroad. going after the banks and the bank accounts and their exclusive lives that hate they have led in the west. for making sure that the oligarchs who are still in russia can travel -- cannot

travel and roam around the world and visit their various bank accounts in the cayman islands. host: independent, good morning. caller: my question is given the current administration, do you think if we were still under the former one we would be in this? guest: honestly, former president donald trump has made various statements calling vladimir putin a genius. it is quite clear, i think, that he would not challenge putin during this type of operation. i do not think that the previous administration would have challenged him. indeed, i think there is more of a likelihood that he would have given him the green light to

engage in these activities. host: miami, florida. democrat. caller: i was wondering if you could explain what to expect from the united nations regarding this violation of sovereignty. guest: i think there will be a condemnation in the united states but obviously russia is on the security council. it will veto any sort of condemnation that the united nations wants to put out. host: can you explain why the russian ambassador is in the chairman's seat of the security council when we have been watching these meetings? why does he hold the gavel when they are speaking? guest: i assume that the speaker is appointed by a rotation so i assume that it is simply the russians time to be in the speaker seat. host: mystic, connecticut.

caller: i was always taught that the best defense is offense. why are not we opening up our wells, drilling in the gulf and and mark and our pipelines? i do not see where ukraine is doing any offense. guest: ukraine is outmanned at the present time. it will be on the defense for a while because of the massive assault led by the russian troops. whether this changes u.s. policy in terms of oil exploration, that is speculation. i think ukraine has to be on the defensive at least in the beginning. i think your first or wants to occupy ukraine, it will face

significant challenges and resistance from the ukrainian people. host: in terms of an outmanned military, this from the bbc. this is their map. these could be outdated numbers. an active duty military and ukraine of around 200,000, russia close to one million. reserve corps close to 2 million in russia, approximately 900 thousand ukraine. the aircraft disparity 1500 298. takes 12,002 maybe 2500. that estimation by the bbc. global fiber -- global firepower accounting. this is independent. caller: some of the questions

very uncomfortable questions will be asking -- at the press club next friday are, why is it ok for morocco to be supported in its occupation and annexation of western sahara under they accord -- and supported by biden, why is israel's annexation and exploitation of the -- heights which had captured in a war of aggression is launched ok and russians occupation invasion of ukraine is just not ok. can you answer the question that americans want to know, why are some annexations in occupations ok from a u.s. standpoint and others are absolutely verb otten? guest: i won't go through the entire explanation involving all

of these various occupations but in ukraine, we need to emphasize and need to consider that if russia recognizes the sovereignty of ukraine in something like -- the budapest miranda him. in terms of ukraine they actually went through a do new query station program and returned all of their new in light of the security guarantee. russia recognize the sovereignty of ukraine and it has now violated that sovereignty. it has occupied it is attempting to occupy ukraine. this is the whole european security architecture. i think that is why the occupation of ukraine has risen to such an important event in the past few hours. host: you mentioned russian commitments but what about u.s. commitments in that memorandum?

what did we say we would do? guest: we said we would recognize ukraine sovereignty obviously ukraine is not a member of ukraine it does not have guarantees of response. we are also responsible biden has not said we can intervene militarily we have a moral and legal responsibility -- especially in light of this violation of international law. host: tumor calls. robert in virginia. caller: i am independent. my question is, i was in moscow

earlier this year and sanctions do not seem to do much. every time there are sanctions they build up the infrastructure internally. whereas they put embargoes from -- and ham from germany, they just start manufacturing their own in-house. they just became stronger and substituted one for the other. secondly, i have family in moscow. i am curious to know what you think of what this will do for diplomatic relations and people who have to travel back and forth. those of the two questions i have few. guest: i think probably much more difficult. we have already experienced difficulties in getting visas from the russian embassy. from the u.s. embassy and -- i think