the atlantic council, which is co funded by such organizations as the u. s. military, all manner of west and weapons manufacturers, as well as well. johns and as who of banks. you would think that with all that money, the atlantic council would be a serious organization. analysts and intelligence and tactical teams and strategic teams. no. their predictions of basten feelings and the motions. we have learned emotions running high and i let them get the better of me. i still expect action this week, but putting me drag this out. we still don't know, but i'm line is that a recognize that i need to be more judicious, her feelings? her heart told her that that bruton was about to cut power to ukraine and, and kill the senior officers a deck out the navy coast, the millions of dollars her organization gets from american weapons, manufacturers whose stock prices are directly dependent. the public fear had nothing to do with that. similarly, i think she would be against having to disclose that the atlantic council is funded by arms manufacturers in every one of h

the atlantic council, which is co funded by such organizations as the u. s. military, all manner of west and weapons manufacturers, as well as well. johns and a slew of banks. you would think that with all that money, the atlantic council would be a serious organization. analysts and intelligence and tactical teams and strategic teams. no. their predictions of basten feelings and emotions. we have learned emotions running high and i let them get the better of me. i still expect action this week, but putting me drag this out. we still don't know, but i'm line. is that a recognize that i need to be more judicious, her feelings? her heart told her that, that bowden was about to cut power to ukraine and, and kill their senior officers a dake out the navy coast. the millions of dollars her organization gets from american weapons, manufacturers whose stock prices are directly dependent. the public fear had nothing to do with that. similarly, i think she would be against having to disclose that the atlantic council is funded by arms manufacturers in every one of

if you haven't heard about the atlantic council at is arguably one of the most aggressive pro, valence think tags in the world. that is the de facto thing, tag of nato. so no surprise, they've been that the full front of this hysteria that we're all sick of. just listen to that deputy director, put in has big we can plans and ukraine. he's going to cut power and heat knockout ukraine and navy and air force kill general staff and hid them with cyber attack. then install pro russian president and resort to full scale military invasion if ukraine doesn't give in. this was last week and just like her previous predictions, no one invaded any what, but she did her job. she helped mislead countless people and spreads immeasurable fear, panic and, and even terror. and she, she has now been hired by the u. s. government to lecture on russian this information. but what other things can you, the u. s. government, european governments, new cranes do as a combat states foster disinformation efforts coming from moscow. we live in an upside down world. the atlanta council, which is co funded by such

today, the north atlantic council decided to activate our defense plans. at the request of top military commander -- at the request of the top military commander. this is a step to protect and shield other nations during this crisis. it will enable us to deploy capabilities and forces, including the nato response force to where they are needed. in response to russia's massive military buildup, we are already strengthening our collective defense on land, as c, and in the air. in the last weeks, allies from north america and europe have deployed thousands of more troops to the eastern part of the area and place more troops on standby. we have over 100 jets at high alert, protecting our airspace. more than 120 allied ships at sea from the far north to the mediterranean. all of this shows our collective defense equipment is ironclad. we will continue to do whatever is necessary to i called a virtn nato leaders tomorrow to address the way forward. russia is now facing severe costs and consequences imposed by the whole international community. the kremlin's aim

with me are melinda haring, who's deputy director of the atlantic council's eurasia centre, and natalie fahy, editor of the nottingham post. let me bring you up—to—date at home. a stark headline in the i — putin bombs civilians — and a picture of the skies above kyiv glowing with fire following russian rocket strikes near the city. the uk's metro free newspaper has a picture of a paramedic trying to help a young girl and the words of a ukrainian doctor fighting to save wounded children — "show this to putin" the international version of the financial times rounds up the latest situation, focusing on attacks on ukraine's second city of kharkiv. but also covers oil giant shell ending its biggest projects in russia in response to the invasion. the french daily, le figaro, says europe faces up to putin — highlighting severe sanctions, military aid and a muscular european response. the view from tokyo, where the japan times says the introduction of sanctions against russia marks a shift in rhetoric and policy towards russia from japan the international edition of the new york times shows som

we have just finished a meeting of the north atlantic council to discuss the situation. the council also addressed the request by bulgaria. the czech republic stole now locked the r lithuanian, poland, remain young, and swatca to hold urgent consultations under article for all the washington treating. this is a grave moment for the security of a europe. rochelle st. unjustified an unprovoked attack on ukraine's on the cranes putting countless innocent lives at risk with air and massage attacks, gong forces, and special forces from multiple directions targeting military infrastructure and major urban centers. this is a deliberate, cold blooded and long planned invasion. the spite, it's litany of lies denials on this information. the criminal intentions are cleared for the world to see russia leaders bear full responsibility for their reckless actions on the lives last night on us from them. russia's invasion of ukraine in the strongest possible terms. it is a blatant violation of international law, an act of aggression against a sovereign, independent and peaceful country.

we'll just finished meeting the north atlantic council to discuss the situation. the council also addressed the request by bulgaria, the checked republic, estonia locked the r, little ania, poland, remain young, and swatca to hold urgent consultations under article for all the washington treat thing. this is a grave moment for the security of a europe rush, us unjustified. an unprovoked attack on ukraine's on ukraine is putting compass innocent lives at risk with air and me saw attacks growing forces on special forces from multiple directions targeting military infrastructure and major urban centers. this is a deliberate, cold blooded, and long planned invasion. despite its litany of lies denials on this information, the criminal intentions are cleared for the world to see russia's leaders bear full responsibility for their reckless actions on the lives lost. nay, donnas, from them russia's invasion of ukraine in the strongest possible terms. it is a blatant violation of international law, an act of aggression against a sovereign, independent and peaceful country.

put in itself, i and other experts of the atlantic council have said that what needs to be done is to make a russian oligarch outside the russian borders. feel worthless that they will be persona non grata or subject to even arrest the moment they step outside russia. so no more trips on their expensive yards to progress, to the french riviera, to miami, new york, whatever that is finished. and they have to understand that on saturday today, a russian ship was a pet report to be seized by the french authorities and the ownership connection with their was made with a necessity to put in that type of stuff that needs to happen. one more thought on that, i think sadly like we've seen another, the it or the war or conflict, if you will, is that the ordinary person is actually going to feel the pain, whether it's higher prices for food or inability to travel that sort of thing. but i cannot help but think that western strategists are thinking maybe that is one way a strategy is to make it so kind of vast. the sanction that the russian people will say, we're fed up you know, we're cluster p

we have just finished a meeting of the north atlantic council to discuss the situation. the council also addressed the request by bulgaria, the czech republic, estonia, latvia, lithuania, poland, romania, and slovakia to hold urgent consultations under article four of the washington treaty. this is a grave moment for the security of europe. russia's unjustified and unprovoked attack on ukraine is putting countless innocent lives at risk. with air and missile attacks, ground forces, and special forces from multiple directions, targeting military infrastructure, and major urban centers. this is a deliberate, cold-blooded, and long planned invasion. despite his litany of lies, denials, and misinformation, the kremlin's intentions are clear for the world to see. russia's leaders bear full responsibility for their reckless actions and the lives lost. nato allies condemn russia's invasion of ukraine in the strongest possible terms. it is a blatant violation of international law, an act of aggression against a sovereign, independent, and peaceful country. and a serious threat to

let's speak to michael bassetti, if he's a non resident senior fellow at the atlantic council eurasia center and a former spokesman for the organization for security and cooperation in europe. he joins us from viv in ukraine. thank you for your time. i stop fast with your reaction to vladimir putin se ferry speech last night where he formerly recognized these to break away regions of ukraine, controlled by these russian back separatists. did you see it is coming? good to be with you? i yes, i saw coming actually. i've been predicting it for weeks that president putin would take formal control over a territory. he's actually been controlling informally since 2014 through the russian back tags. the speech last night was nothing short of blood curdling. it was coming from a man who i believe has no intention at stopping at the so called front line, dividing the occupied and government control areas of ukraine is the big fear here at the moment is that he will actually try and take control of the other parts of all i can do that, they basically control at the moment about one 3rd of those

not clear of the north atlantic council, the actual body of all the ambassadors of nato is going to be meeting. i suspect that's quite likely. but certainly the 2nd general yet install to book is gonna be meeting with the european communion commission. president us live on the line who just heard and the already calls on. give you one that has come here from the prime minister of latvia for nato to do so. thing chris john. his current, this is the prime minister here, is called for article for consultations of nato. article 4 is where they discuss whether there is a threat to be alliance. i think if you're a country like, via that close to the russian border, then you do feel a threat that potentially russia could go further than just ukraine. i think that's the worry of some of those northern nations, and that's why they want nato to have article for consultations. what's reminding you has them the article for is not quite as severe as our school 5, which is when they invoke the attack. if there's an attack on the nato state or for $11.00 for all it's consider the tackle when not that

let's bring in harlan oman, a military express in senior advisor at the atlantic council. it was a former advise, it's the u. s defense department and joins us now from washington dc. thank you for your time. i want to get your take the u. s. troops being deployed to romania and poland is, is this for the us part of postering show of strength, or is this the u. s. really preparing for conflict. this is very much a show of force for our allies. i don't think that let a mere putin and his generals are impressed. you're only $3000.00 troops on route, $8500.00 that would go to the nato response force. and there are probably 82130000 russians near the ukranian border. so this is really to short or allies. it's not that much of an impact in moscow. my trip, sir, do you think it will impact this sort of 10 situation already on the ground? oh, perhaps not. i don't think who is going to use military force. he be crazy to do that . people don't know, but this exercise was scheduled and on the 20th and several of 2020th of february. so we'll see what happens. you gotta realize geogra

now we can speak to emma who is from the atlantic council in washington and shejoins from the atlanticnow. please forgive me your initial reaction to what we have heard that he is said this military operation is going to take place. military operation is going to take place-— military operation is going to take place. here said not only that this invasion _ take place. here said not only that this invasion is _ take place. here said not only that this invasion is going - that this invasion is going ahead but also he hinted at maximalist aims. you promised he would demilitarise ukraine. the hearing reports there are shelling in cities near done verse and explosions further afield. we can assume this is a large—scale invasion that the biden administration has been warning about for some weeks. when you see large girl is talking about the donbas region and you think he could go wider than that?— than that? one of the things he said in his _ than that? one of the things he said in his speech, _ said in his speech, demilitarise ukraine sounds larger. much he alluded to a nato expansion to p

with me are melinda haring, who's deputy director of the atlantic council's eurasia centre, and natalie

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and it is said that the atlantic council also does have some influence with a bought in ministration. so we could take all this together, i think. and again, it was just, there was no, no way to avoid this situation, particularly off that we have that escalation, just days before the parent has said he said that he said on the recent past, all that he has to do something. but i don't ali, i don't really know if anyone thought that it would go this far alley, risk of political commentator. joining us here on our team to national appreciate your opinion. thanks very much. appreciate you being with us here on the program. now, when it comes to you on a political, the payoff front, i think moscow is, is feeling the pressure and now the e, u, u. s. and u. k. a announcing a raft of sanctions against russia, following deliberations between european leaders in brussels. we can learn more, crossing live to london on the policy are joining us. can you bring us up to date on the latest sanctions? how are they, how they spelling out polar? while they set the spelling out in some kind of spiral, a

nato is gonna be meeting tomorrow in the north atlantic council has been called.s will be meeting and it will be very interesting to see if they decide to call up the 40,000 strong nato response force which would fall under the american supreme allied commander in europe. some of those 7,000 troops that president biden announced tonight will be going to germany may be a part of that if, in fact, it is agreed to to enact that. >> geraldo: what in the world are they waiting for to activate that force of 40,000? what could be worse than this? >> it's really interesting geraldo and i think if the understand the bind that they find themselves in. and phyllis and what he said last night the warning to nato that thinly veiled warning in which he really was threatening it sounded like nuclear weapons. the messaging that he has been doing ten nato where there was nuclear exercises that he oversaw last weekend, that was designed to send a signal reminding people that he has a nuclear power, do not come and interfere with what he has going on in ukraine after the invasion st

been taken in that regard but those forces stand by should a decision be taken by the north atlantic council to call up the nato response force and a request comes in for american forces to be part of that. finally, i can't get inside the head of president putin and i will not speculate as to his motivations, intentions or decision, and all i will say is we are ready either way. if president putin wants to engage in diplomacy, we are prepared to engage in diplomacy, and we have sketched out the paw -- parameter for that. >> it sounds like you are saying the assessment that putin has not made a decision still stands, and based on that is it your opinion that it's more likely an invasion could happen now than previously believed? >> look, it's hard to assign percentage probabilities in any of this. we have to think about the range of scenarios that we confront and it's our job to be ready for all of them. what i will say is the way he has built-up his forces and put them in place along with the other indicators that we have collected through intelligence makes it clear to us that there's a ver

>> you will see today the north atlantic council activate the nato response force, which is tens of thousandssoldiers, sailors, airmen, tanks, kroops, warships. they're going to flood the zone along the borders of russia really for three reasons, chris. one is to send that symbol, that signal to vladimir putin. two is to reassure those allies who are along that border that nato stands with them. and thirdly, very practically, to deal with the consequences if there is a massive refugee flow out of ukraine, for example. so the alliance will be very active, doing all the things that vladimir putin doesn't want to see. and by the way, if i woke up this morning in stockholm, sweden, or helsinki, finland, i would want to be inside the nato alliance, not outside of it. watch for that move. >> so, melinda, talk to me about the impact of this war on the countries right around russia, for example, lithuania declaring a state of emergency. what is the biggest risk to those countries? is it economic, military, from refugees? take us through it. >> sure, chris. so, experts say that they expect 2 million t

we were talking about this, something that nato or specifically the north atlantic council would decide. it's potentially tens of thousands of nato allied troops that would be used to help defend against a potential invasion or incursion of russia of some of those nato allies. now, there are still no u.s. intelligence anyway that russia has any plans to move beyond ukraine, but this is really about showing a united front among these nato allies, especially now that russia has begun this full-scale invasion of ukraine. so, those 7,000 troops will move forward in the coming days. there is still no indication that nato has made a definitive decision about activating the nato response force, but i also have to say, hallie, in the last few minutes while you have been on the air an update of what is going on from a u.s. military perspective what they are seeing happen there in your crane. according to a senior defense official they believe russia has launched in excess of 160 missiles into ukraine since this invasion began about 9:30 p.m. eastern time last night. the senior defense official a

for more on this can we welcome to the program a senior fellow at the atlantic council and a former spokespersonn ukraine for the organization for security and cooperation in europe. thank you so much for joining us on the program. i would like to take a closer look at ukraine, particularly in regards to its military. however ukraine's armed forces evolved since russia's annexation of crimea in 2014? are they better equipped to respond to potential invasion? michael: absolutely. when we arrived, crimea was illegally annexed in the opinion military -- flip-flops, poorly equipped. it was really something to see. but when you see them today complain much more proud, much more better equipped to much better trained. don't forget that a lot of nations including canada and the u.s. have been training the armed forces in western ukraine for quite some time. much better. i'm not so sure about the command and control on the senior level, but you hear from the defense minister come from people like president zelensky, a real confidence that you would not have heard back then. i think -- one more thing, i

today, the north atlantic council decided to activate our defense bounce at the request or a top military commander general told walters. this is a prudent and offensive step to protect and shield allan nations during this crisis . and it will enable us to deploy capabilities on forces, including the nato response force to wear them are needed. oh, dominate cane in berlin. ah, let's throw up. ashley asked about the german response in a moment as well. but let's talk about nato thing as we just heard from the n stell topic. was there anything new there anything different there, or was it really the sort of same condemnation for russia and support the ukraine? one things you out to the idea of condemnation for russia support for ukraine. also reassurance to the member states of ne, so on the eastern flank of nature, which from one perspective, if you're in moscow is the western flank, as it were, from their perspective, which is the baltic states, estonia, latvia, lithuania, but also to a certain extent, poland sal lakia hungary, romania, they all have expressed concerns says yan stroudsbur

to day the north atlantic council decided to activate over the fence vance. at the request or top military commander general, told walters. this is a prudent and offensive step to protect and shield our la nations during this crisis. and it will enable us to deploy capabilities on forces, including the nato response force to where them are needed. ah, let's bring in our guests into the show. we have joining us from kia, said again to catch. he's the c o of ukraine invest and ukrainian government agency in moscow. vladimir softening cove, a senior research associate at the russian academy of sciences. and from washington, d. c. lawrence called a former us assistant secretary of defense. welcome to all of you in the show. if i could start with the survey, then what do you make so gay of putin's military goal? what's the thinking in kiev? do they think he is going to try and take over the whole country? well, is the beginning of a full scale invasion of ukraine. this is a very dangerous thing. and we have seen already victims of this invasion and not only key fo

that's right to the north atlantic council met this morning in what's called article for consultations. and that is when one of the allies, or in this case more several up to 8. i think i called this article for consultation today. that means they feel a threat to their security, so that makes clear just what the problem is for nato here. yes, the invasion is taking place in ukraine. but nato member countries border ukraine in some cases, beller bruce and others very close to close for comfort. so nato has been reinforcing its eastern flank now for weeks, for months, sending more troops to estonia, latvia, lithuania, and poland. also preparing a battalion for romania. so i asked in that press conference, what does this mean? are you as of today sending more forces, sending more ships? and stilton berg said that we've been doing this all along and we've made decisions to make it easier and quicker to do that. should we see the need. one of those resources that nato has is what's called the v j t f. the very high readiness task force, and that could be sent now at much quicker notice to

on the border with ukraine. harlan all month is a military expert and senior advisor at the atlantic council. he believes the us reinforcements will change very little. put his after a new strategic framework in europe that protects russia and he also wants to prevent further.

the north atlantic council is underway right now with 30 ambassadors. the members stayed sitting together together with to nato secretary general's tolten berg. and i was told that this is part of the regular consultation they have, but of course, the item on the agenda is the queen, crisis, and nato has been preparing for all possible scenarios. and of course, we still don't know what putins plan is for you, queen how he is planning to move forward, and that is what is being discussed and nato, they have already ruled out that there will be there will be native combat forces in ukraine. but of course, one issue that has been on the agenda for a long time is now to increase in natal presence in eastern europe. we have to remember that there are nato members that have borders with russia, and especially they are a very concerned and scared that this conflict is this crisis could to spill over a fil, over a further into europe. again, with an aman, thank you very much. brussels for us. you're watching d. w use. he is a reminder of the top story by followi

thank you very mart, senior fellow, the atlantic councils, europe center, ben judah, joining is that from new york march will sell to come this hour. we're going to look at the impact on global financial market stocks of plunge. it did rebound a bit though. oil prices have also been rising as it rushes. invasion of the brain shake the global economy and they've been protests around the world in support of the people of ukraine. ah hello, welcome to your world's weather update. this snow is starting to wind down for western areas of japan. this includes honshu in the southwest of hoko to be told temperature is running a bit below average here, but for the korean peninsula were above average. so it's got a high of 9 degrees in the sunshine, are also back into the sunshine for southern china. this includes hong kong 18 degrees and we'll keep it going. we'll get your temperature up there after that bitter cold snap that we saw. so back into the twenty's over the weekend, which is pretty well in line with where you should be for this for the year. so came rain to be expected still for the

matthew bryce is senior fellow at the atlantic council and a former diplomat and national security official at the white house. and in, although glen decent is professor of international relations at the university of southeast, in norway and editor of russia in global affairs. welcome to all, if i could stop them with puzzle. does the outcomes the latest binding putin phone call indicate that perhaps diplomacy is heading towards the dead end? how long dangly there was no serious progress there to those of course the number of phone calls. there was, oh, so the secretary blinking talking to avril funding and the american defense secretary talking to sure you go so that in general, you're asked him of chief of general staff talking to general moley. so there's a furry of, of phone calls oh, involving the french president, the british you were us involved and they're up to now no big progress happening. but of course it's better to talk not than not to talk. but the situation is extremely tense and get being worse. and the only good news most likely is that it will be somehow resolved in a we

the atlantic council will hear more about that friday at 12:30 p.m.astern live on c-span, online at c-span.org, or you can watch full coverage on c-span now, our new video app. ♪ >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span two, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. 2:00 eastern, abraham lincoln scholars talk about the 16th presidents speeches and what they revealed about his views on the constitution. we feature the annual lincoln form at gettysburg with discussions on abraham lincoln and the civil war. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturday on c-span two and find the full schedule on your probe -- probe -- program module. ♪ >> democrats from the senate judi

a decision to activate the nato response force is a decision they have to make and the north atlantic council has to make -- that's not something the united states would unilaterally call into being. i would only add this -- and this is why a couple of weeks ago we talked about making our contribution to the response force more ready, so we have done that. one of the messages the secretary will carry with him to nato is that our contribution to the nato response force, should it be activated, will be ready to go. reporter: in your answer to bob, you do not see that his forces have moved into attack position yet? mr. kirby: i will not talk about specifically what we are seeing on the ground when it comes to unit by unit. but i will tell you is we continue to see him advance his readiness and improve his capabilities and provide himself more options should he decide to take military action. let me go to the phone. i promise i will get to ever buddy. we will be here as long as you want. reporter: good afternoon. thank you very much. the u.s. navy has yet to pinpoint the exact location and depth

to day the north atlantic council decided to activate our the fence fans at the request or a top military commander general told walters. this is a prudent and defensive step to protect and shield allan nations during this crisis . and it will enable us to deploy capabilities on forces, including the nato response force to wear them are needed. in response to rush us massive, military buildup, we have all the strength from our collected the fence on land at sea and in the air . in the last weeks, allies from north america and europe have deployed thousands or more troops to the east and part of the lines. and placed more on standby. we have over hung the jets at high alert, protecting our aerospace and more than 120 allied ships at sea from the high north to the mediterranean. all this shows that are collect the defense commitment. article 5 is i'd on cloud. we will continue to do whatever is necessary to shield alliance from aggression. i have a called a virtual summit of natalee this to morrow, to address the way forward. russia is now facing severe costs and consequences imposed by the

belarus lets get more on russia's build—up with michael sheldon — research associate at the atlantic council'sb — on open source monitoring group. can you talk is for your methodology, and as as an illustration we can see how you have used something from russian troops on tiktok near kursk. ~ , ., , russian troops on tiktok near kursk. , ., russian troops on tiktok near kursk. , . ,,. kursk. we use open sources such as social media _ kursk. we use open sources such as social media and _ kursk. we use open sources such as social media and a _ kursk. we use open sources such as social media and a lot - kursk. we use open sources such as social media and a lot of - kursk. we use open sources such as social media and a lot of it - as social media and a lot of it from tiktok and instagram where we seek to verify the footage through a process of geolocation and we use clues from the footage or the user profile to narrow down the area and then use satellite imagery to cross—reference features to cross— reference features from to cross—reference features from the sea into the actual location. ., from

this is one of the members of the parliament at an atlantic council event in washington. >> it was joe biden -- 2009 in munich. he used this idea of -- vladimir putin in. it failed and lessons learned. the need for president biden -- does not have any illusion of putin's mind and ambitions. it is about autocracy -- our open -- host: should the u.s. support democracy in ukraine. if you say yes your number is (202) 748-8000. if you say no your number is (202) 748-8001. if you are undecided your number is (202) 748-8002. caller: good morning. i want to preface my comment by saying that i defining the questions that you are asking every morning to be increasingly problematic. in the case of this question, the reason i said i am unsure is because it depends on what you mean by support democracy. a lot of the questions being asked lately are unclear about what they are actually getting at. i would say that yes of course we should support dr. -- support democracy in the abstract. make the world safe for democracy. the question is what does that really mean? that is not what this whole issue i

and we know that this morning, the north atlantic council, the representatives of all 30 natal members, will be coming together a to, to speak about consequences. and we are also seeing more and more you were p and leaders expressing or they're feeling saying that condemning or rushes action and seeing that they stand in solidarity with ukraine. and when you say consequences or what form could those consequences take? are we talking simply, sanctions here again, and if so, what kind? we are talking sanctions here again, and that is what nato allies, what your opinion leaders and have already announced that russia will be targeted with the massive sanctions. we are talking about political and economic sanctions at the g. 7 leaders are coming to together this morning and they will also decide on them what's on the table is for example, the proposal to cut off rush hour from the electronic payment system. swift to, to put sectoral sanctions on a rush, us energy sector and military. there is also one option on the table to ban any exports of semiconductors. those small chips that are so im

no decisions have been taken but those forces standby should a decision be taken by the north atlantic council to call up the nato response force and a request comes in for american forces to be part of that. finally, i can't get inside the head of president putin. i will not speculate his motivations or intentions or his decisions. i will say we are ready either way. if president putin wants to engage in diplomacy, we are prepared to engage in diplomacy. we would like to find a diplomatic path forward and we sketched out the principles for that. if he chooses to move forward, we will work with our allies and partners to respond decisively. >> you -- it sounds like you're saying that the assessment previously that he has not made a decision still stands. is it your opinion that an invasion is more likely to happen now than previously believed? >> it is difficult to find probabilities for any of this. we have to think about the range of scenarios and it is our job to be ready for all of them. the way he has built up his forces and put them in place and other indicators we have collected through

keith, he is a non resident senior fellow at the atlantic councils, eurasia sent, and a full mis spokesman for the o. s. c. e. in europe. he says, developments of the last 24 hours a chilling this speech last night was nothing short of like curdling 8. it was coming from a man who i believe, had no intention of stopping at the so called frontline, dividing the occupied in government control areas of ukraine is the big fear here at the moment is that he will actually try to control of the other parts of lives can to that they basically control at the moment above one 3rd of 2 blocks. and then another possibility is to move further south and create that land bridge between russia proper and crimea. so this has a long way to play out, and i don't believe the sanctions out so far by the white house will do anything to determine if diplomacy was on the floor 2 days ago. i said it was in the basement yesterday. it's down the drain. now, clearly put in, it's not listening to, you know, the day that the statements coming out of the road based international world. he's going to choose his own pass,

the north atlantic council is underway right now with 30 ambassadors. the members stayed sitting together together with nato secretary general's tolten berg. and i was told that this is part of the regular consultation they have, but of course, the item on the agenda is the queen, crisis, and nato has been preparing for all possible scenarios. and of course, we still don't know what to put in the plan is for you, queen how he is planning to move forward, and that is what is being discussed and nato, they have already ruled out that there will be there will be native combat forces in ukraine, but of course one issue that has been on the agenda for a long time is now to increase nato presence in eastern europe. we have to remember that there are nato members that have for borders with russia, and especially they are a very concerned and scared that this conflict this, this crisis could spill over a little, over a further into europe. alexander, you've covered russian affairs for us for years in moscow, followed. couldn't around, did any of this overnight