reduction talks with the former soviet union. he's also a board president at global zero. thanks for being with us yesterday and we enjoyed having you so much that we had to have you back because we needed more time to really delve into all of your expertise. so mr. burt, ukrainian officials say putin's move to put his deterrent forces on high alert is just a tactic to put pressure on ukraine ahead of tomorrow's scheduled meeting. do you see it that way or is it something else? >> i think in part it is a pressure tactic. we could call it nuclear coercion. but i don't think the audience is just ukraine. i think it's the western world, the global community. vladimir putin is saying i'm going to up the ante. this is very important to me. and i'm prepared to go all the way. and this really reflects putin's own kind of personal fascination with nuclear weapons. i had an opportunity about five years ago to meet with putin in