a u.s./russia channel, a nato/russia channel and then a broader conversation in the organization for security and cooperation in europe. but otherwise, it appears that mr. putin reiterated his positions and then president biden reiterated that if russia does use military force against ukraine, there will be significant economic sanctions, there will be more military as assistance to ukraine and nato will bolster its present near russia. president biden said, look, there s a conversation to be had here. the big question to my mind is, do the russians want to have that conversation, that they put down two draft agreements that have a lot of unacceptable el ements, but is that designed to illicit a rejection or an opening bid on what will be a fairly difficult negotiation? explain the significant of the three tracks of communication. right, well, the russians would like to have, basically a u.s./russia conversation. and the ideal kremlin world, the united states and russia would
putin. i would bet more on the former than the latter. we ll know a lot more, lindsey, as the first week of january unfolds. there are talks between u.s. and russia directly, talks between russia and nato, and talks at the osce, the organization for security and cooperation in europe. we ve got a bunch of cards to turn over yet. let s see how things look by mid-january. admiral, i got 30 seconds left with you. how closely do you think china is watching the standoff? any influence it could have on china s behavior towards taiwan? very perceptive question. they re watching it every minute, and absolutely the two situations are not a perfect match. they re pretty analogous. china will be watching to see how resolute we are. retired admiral james stavridis, thank you, great do you see, happy new year to you. same to you. coming up, a tribute to those we lost this year. you re watching msnbc reports. . you re watching msnbc reports.
president putin is about to take. we have important conversations between us starting tomorrow as well as at nato, as well as at the organization for security and cooperation in europe. we re going to listen to russia s concerns, they re going to have to listen to our concerns. if they are proceeding in good faith, we think we can make progress in addressing concerns on both sides that would reduce tensions and deal with improving security. we ll do that in close coordination with european allies and partners. we made clear to russia there s nothing about europe without europe, but ultimately, this is up to president putin to decide which path he s going to follow. it seems unlikely putin will withdraw troops or take at least some of them off the border without some concessions by the u.s. you ve already said that those two that i mentioned up top are off the table or not on the table. what about moving, having u.s. weaponry out of poland, moving it further west or moving missiles? w
rules were broken. he left all that up to an independent investigation. so in some ways, this was buying himself just a bit more time, isa. we know the results of that investigation should be published in about a week or so, but already as you said, a rebellion within his own party, his own members of the conservative party, asking for him to resign. asking for him to step down. and then, of course, there s the public fallout. now with the lowest approval ratings he has had since he took office. look, you re looking a t a prim minister right now who is vulnerable, cornered and many believe he apologized because he was caught, isa. this prime minister has been known to hold on for far worse scandals. let s see what happens in the coming days, whether the rest of the torys stand behind him. thank you very much, salma. the organization for
first, jake, i don t think we ll see any breakthroughs in the coming week. we re going to be able to put things on the table. the russians will do the same. both directly with us at nato at the osce and we ll see if there are grounds for moving forward. here s what i can say. first, any progress that we re going to make is going to have to happen on a reciprocal basis, by which i mean if the united states and europe are taking steps to address some of russia s concerns, russia will have to do the same thing. second, nothing s happening without europe, and third, it s hard to see making actual progress as opposed to talking in and atmosphere of escalation with a gun to ukraine s head. so if we re actually going to make progress, we re going to have to see deescalation, russia pulling back from the threat that it currently poses to ukraine. you didn t rule any of those out. they re not enough the table as the earlier items were. let me ask you, going forward, if those concessions are