During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) asked Center for European Policy Analysis President and Chief Executive Officer Alina Polyakova and Center on Europe and Eurasia Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and Director Peter Rough about Russia's foreign policy agenda.
00:00Well thank you both very much for your testimony. Dr. Polyakova, I was really
00:06struck by your talking about the increased militarization of Russian
00:09society because I have continued to believe that one of the most important
00:17reasons to support Ukraine is because it sends a very strong message to not just
00:22our allies and partners that we would be there for them but to our adversaries
00:26who threaten the United States. And it was important pointed out to me recently
00:30that one of the other really important aspects of that is that we do not want to
00:37be in a position five or ten years down the road where Russia actually is able
00:41to absorb Ukraine and has access to all of the increased buildup that Ukraine has
00:49done and their expertise, technology, innovation to go against NATO and our
00:59other allies and partners. Can you talk about that and how you calibrate that
01:04concern against other issues with respect to Russia?
01:09Well thank you so much for that question Senator Shaheen. It is true that the
01:15militarization of Russian society is not new but it has accelerated
01:19significantly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and what I mean by that is that
01:23there is consistent reporting that for example children as young as kindergarten
01:27age are receiving military drill education and this is continued continues on
01:32through the school ages and of course up to the the years of military service and
01:37this is deeply deeply concerning for a variety of reasons as you can imagine. That
01:42being said to your point about what would be the consequences if Russia was
01:46able to eventually completely take over Ukraine the first consequence is how
01:53expensive it would be for NATO to then have a Ukraine that is completely
01:57occupied and controlled together with Belarus together Russia's positions in
02:02Kaliningrad as well to defend and deter against that that's going to cost us a lot
02:06more than what we're already spending and what our European allies are spending on
02:10Ukraine so there's a real expense there aside from the security threat. I think
02:15broadly speaking it's important to remember that Russia is a strategic and
02:18direct threat to the United States not just our allies in Ukraine. It seeks to
02:24undermine as a score objective the United States as its position as a global
02:28leader. That is what the war in Ukraine is at the end of the day about it is not
02:32about some territory in the Donetsk region it's not about Crimea it's about
02:37deposing the United States as the leader of the free world and that is the key
02:41objective and that is why Russia has partnerships with China and others. And
02:45and do you think this administration and this president recognize that? I think
02:52there are certainly members of the administration do recognize that personally I
02:56would like to see that message be very very clear to our allies at the summit. I
03:01think the one question that a lot of our European allies have is are we aligned on the threat perception
03:06between all the NATO partners not just the United States? Do we have the same
03:11understanding of the threat that Russia represents? And I think if we can get
03:15some movement on that at the summit that would be very significant.
03:18Mr. Rao, can you answer that question as well?
03:21Well I would note that American weapons can sit continue to transit via Poland into
03:27Ukraine there is a sanctions regime in place even if we can quibble about the size and scope of it as
03:32well as sanctions enforcement. And the United States is a member of NATO. Just two weeks ago NATO held a defense ministerial on the sidelines of which the Ukraine NATO council met as well as the Ukraine defense contact group. 20 billion euros in new security systems has been pledged this year.
03:49So while the U.S. is adopting this mediating role, this form of neutrality almost between Ukraine and Russia, it's neutral bending towards Ukraine, I would say. And go ahead, Senator.
04:00Thank you. Are either of you surprised that Russia has not come to the aid of Iran in the current conflict with Israel? That they're not providing the weapons or at least news reports are that they're not providing the weapons that Iran has requested?
04:16I do think it was notable that in the phone call the President held with President Putin, there was a heavy section on Iran and the President even said explicitly in his own readout that they focused very little on Ukraine.
04:29So I do think that President Putin is trying to vector the Americans against the Israelis and to try to shut down the war so that the Iranians can recover. In that sense, I think he is carrying diplomatic water, the Russians are, for the Iranians. But I see no evidence of direct military transfers to date or anything of that nature.
04:45Just very briefly, I'm not surprised because Russia is not a reliable partner. And we saw this in Syria as well. They tried to protect Bashar al-Assad, but then when the fall of his regime came, the Russians were nowhere to be found.
04:58I think that's the real message that I hope we can also convey across the world as the United States.
