Page 138 - Nic News Today

Moskow. so tell us about this new reporting and the significance of it, nic. >> reporter: you know, this is a very strong statement from the british foreign office. the person that theyre naming as the person that the russian government may be looking at to lead ukraine if russia decides to invade and if it decides to occupy the country, hes a pro-russian former mp in ukraine. cnns contacted him, and he said, you know, i dont have a comment to make because im already on a sanctions list from rus...

All scenarios. lets head to moscow where cnns nic robertson is standing by. good to see you again, nic. we cant get inside vladimir putins head, but whats his likely intent here, given what we know so far? and how might the withdrawal of nonessential u.s. embassy staff play into his plans? >> reporter: yeah, his intent is to draw ukraine back into russias sphere of orbit and to make sure its more compliant to russias national security interest. this is why he wants to stop it joining nato. in ...

Continuing to amass their forces near ukraine. as we learned today, jim, also now having placed anti-aircraft system in belarus. >> we saw antony blinken board his u.s. state department plane for his departure from geneva following those talks. >> its interesting. as this was playing out, ukrainian president zelensky gave an interview to "the washington post" reiterating he thinks the sanctions the u.s. is threatening if russia invades how would go into effect now to deter russia if invading. bu...

Embassy staff there, it does seem he is being cautious here. there is a interpretation being offered bay ukrainian officials the draw down, the americans in particular, but perhaps by implication of british as well. they think this is a bit preemptive. they think this is coming too soon and is unnecessary. but i think for the kremlin, theyre going to be able to look at this and see, number one, president biden clearly believes that there is a potential for invasion, that the situation is, in ukr...

Country in question. >> lets get more from the dip thro -- diplomatic editor nic let me start wh we heard from the u.s. envoy. nato has been pretty unified in its position on ukraine. meanwhile russia sees ukraine joining nato as a red line. given this, nic, is there any ground for optimism here? >> reporter: the russians said after their talks in geneva that there was the potential for optimism, that they would remain optimistic. the kremlin spokesman said in the past couple of days that there ...

Today, but at least they decide to continue to talk to one another because one of the things that we have heard from the russian side over the past, i would say 12, 14 hours, is that the kremlin has said it would really like to see another top-level phone conversation at least between president biden and the russian president vladimir putin. perhaps things could continue in that sphere, and this meeting today could set the stage for that. isa? >> and the talks ongoing, thats a good sign. fred, d...

Nic, what happened? >> reporter: we believe the talks went longer than originally scheduled. there was due to be a press conference given by the russian representative that is several hours overdue now. it is not clear what conclusions could be made by that. the russians were going in with the intent of pressuring the ukrainian representative to meet with the pro-russian separatist in the east of ukraine and this is something ukrainian officials have resisted. there is an underlying believe that...

U.s. troops have been placed on heightened alert for possible deployment to eastern europe. pentagon spokesperson john kirby says despite calls for russian president vladimir putin to step back from ukraine, hes actually sending new troops to the border. >> they continue to add tactical groups to their western border, to the border with ukraine. and in belarus as well. theyve shown no signs of de-escalating but they are adding more force capability. >> president biden held a conference call on t...

Kingdom, australia, canada, germany began to remove what theyre calling non-essential staff and diplomatic families from the ukrainian capitol here ahead of an inkrags. they are slightly out of tune. that is how you interpret the intent of vladimir putin. the ukrainians say theyre already occupied by russian forces so this is an escalation, not a new invasion. >> you can understand the desire to tamp down fears in that country. sam kiley, thank you for that reporting. lets bring in nic roberts...

Hold two classified briefings for congressional staff later today. well have more on that in just a moment. >> youll hear the latest intelligence. also ahead here at home, extremism on the ballot. a new report released just moments ago shows that dozens of far-right candidates are endorsing qanon conspiracy theories ahead of this years midterms. what were learning about the connections those candidates have with white supremacists, anti-government exsttremists an the proud boys group on januar...