The crisis in Ukraine: Russian aggression, U.S. sanctions, and the future of the region

President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two pro-Russia regions in eastern Ukraine Monday. At a press conference Tuesday, President Biden said this military incursion marked the “the beginning of a Russian invasion” and ordered new sanctions against Russia’s financial institutions. Also in response, Germany halted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would have delivered natural gas to Europe. This hour, we examine the Ukraine crisis. Is a full-fledged Russian invasion inevitable? How should Ukraine, NATO and the U.S. respond? And, if Russia does gain control of Ukraine, what will that mean for Europe and global security?

Guests

Trudy Rubin,  Philadelphia Inquirer Worldview columnist. @trudyrubin

Kathryn Stoner, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and professor at Stanford University and author of, Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order. @kath_stoner

Brian Taylor, professor of political science at Syracuse University and the author of three books on Russian politics, most recently The Code of Putinism. @bdtaylor_SU

Recommended reading

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Why Putin’s Ukraine aggression will change the world: An explainer on how we got here | Trudy Rubin – “So the basic reason for this crisis is that Putin wants to restore what he believes is Moscow’s rightful control over the territory of Ukraine. He appears willing to use force to do so, no matter the cost.”

The New York Times, Piece by Piece, Russia’s Rationale for a Ukraine Invasion Is Put in Place – “From the occupied territory of Ukraine to the halls of the Kremlin, the rationale for a possible invasion was put into place, piece by piece, and presented to the Russian public in an unrelenting push on state television.”

The Atlantic, Vladimir Putin’s Hall of Mirrors – “Provocation can become a necessary condition to action. Putin has massed Russian forces at the Ukrainian border, but he has no story (yet) for the Russian people as to why he would invade.”