Ukraine crisis talks will not deter Putin, Vittert weighs in
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(NewsNation Now) — Despite an international push to defuse the standoff over Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be deterred by any diplomatic efforts including his meeting with French President Emmanual Macron, NewsNation’s Leland Vittert said “Morning in America.”
“The idea that Vladimir Putin is going to be deterred by the French president is kind of laughable, frankly,” Vittert said on “Morning in America.” “But what you’re trying to see here is this attempt by Western European governments to have Putin understand that there’s going to be some kind of cost.”
The buildup of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fueled Western worries of a possible offensive. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” triggering a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost.”
Russia has denied any plans to attack its neighbor, but demands that the U.S. and its allies bar Ukraine and other former Soviet nations from joining NATO, halt weapons deployments there and roll back NATO forces from Eastern Europe. Washington and NATO reject those demands.
Despite the threat of sanctions, Vittert said Putin is not deterred.
“So far, it appears as though he cares a lot more about restoring Russian prestige and the greater Soviet or Russian Empire being reestablished and brought back together than he does about any kind of sanctions against him or his cronies,” Vittert said.
FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Fort of Bregancon in Bormes-les-Mimosas, southern France, Monday Aug. 19, 2019. Rarely in recent years has the Kremlin been so popular with European visitors. French President Emmanuel Macron arrives Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. The Hungarian prime minister visited last week. And in days to come, the German chancellor will be there, too. (Gerard Julien, Pool via AP, File) 
FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron, left, gestures as he talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the fort of Bregancon in Bormes-les-Mimosas, southern France, Monday Aug. 19, 2019. Rarely in recent years has the Kremlin been so popular with European visitors. French President Emmanuel Macron arrives Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. The Hungarian prime minister visited last week. And in days to come, the German chancellor will be there, too. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File) 
A Ukrainian serviceman walks in a destroyed industrial compound, backdropped by bullet riddled metal pannels on a frontline position outside Avdiivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022. The French president and the German chancellor will head to Moscow and Kyiv in the coming weeks, adding to diplomatic efforts to try to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching an invasion of Ukraine and find a way out of the growing tensions. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) 
File—File photo shows German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaking during a joint press conference with German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck and German Finance Minister Christian Lindner after a one-day closed meeting of the German government at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is flying to Washington this week on a mission to reassure Americans that his country stands alongside the United States and other NATO partners in opposing any Russian aggression against Ukraine. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool) 
A local resident throws a Molotov cocktail against a wall during an all-Ukrainian training campaign “Don’t panic! Get ready!” close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. Russia has denied any plans of attacking Ukraine, but urged the U.S. and its allies to provide a binding pledge that they won’t accept Ukraine into NATO, won’t deploy offensive weapons, and will roll back NATO deployments to Eastern Europe. Washington and NATO have rejected the demands. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, described Macron’s visit as “very important,” but sought to temper expectations, saying, “The situation is too complex to expect a decisive breakthrough after just one meeting.”
He noted that, “The atmosphere has remained tense,” adding that the U.S. and its allies have continued to ignore Moscow’s security demands.
Biden has deployed additional U.S. troops to Poland, Romania and Germany, and a few dozen elite U.S troops and equipment landed Sunday in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, with hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division set to arrive. However, Vittert is skeptical of the moves made by the West, noting none of the troops are heading to Ukraine.
“Sending US troops to Poland, while makes for good television and makes everyone say, ‘Oh, U.S. troops are going to Europe’,” Vittert said. “Effectively to Vladimir Putin, he hears the reverse, he hears, ‘Well, U.S. troops aren’t going to Ukraine.'”
Macron spoke by phone Sunday with President Joe Biden to discuss “ongoing diplomatic and deterrence efforts,” according to the White House.
Vittert said the West is not presenting a united front, despite several world leaders lined up to meet this week including Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to resolve Russian aggression
“Vladimir Putin is looking at the West right now, and seeing a very fractured group of people and a number of countries, Germany, namely, that’s much more interested in their own economic interests than they are in confronting Russia,” Vittert said. “And Vladimir Putin is an expert, former KGB man exploiting those fractures within the coalition.”
“On Balance with Leland Vittert” airs weeknights at 7/6C.
