that i have is putin just benefitting from this domestically, politically by having everybody revved up and spun up about all of these various potential plots, or do you think he is moving in the direction of putting these kinds of plans in motion? well, no one knows for sure what putin is thinking. i will say this that clearly, whenever he can detract attention from the domestic challenges that exist inside of russia both from covid and economics and other things and turning the russian people s attention elsewhere, he s buying himself time. of course we know because if you read putin s speeches, you have a pretty good view of what his master plan is, his greatest lament is the dissolution of what was the soviet union, his greatest desire is to re-create it. so, you know, in this regard you have to look at the troop buildup as one of two things. either he s going to have some
russia over its massive troop buildup on the ukraine border. cnn was first to report showing russia has prepositioned operatives to potentially conduct a false flag operation to create a pretexts for russian invasion. we have team coverage with cnn s jasmine wright traveling with the president in delaware and first fred pleitgen joins me live from moscow. good morning. a lot of new information coming out over the weekend and today as well. the russians are saying in talks with dmitry peskov said that right now the u.s. and russia, as he put it, are on completely different tracks. he called that disturbing as well. the russians want guarantees, namely no more nato expansion.
home. last year tampa bay and this year the rams. i don t know what it is about that guy, he can t throw the ball. he doesn t make great decisions. yet i m sorry, i ve had a soft spot in my heart for the 49ers. he figures out how to win. it is like what bear bryant used to say about pat trammell. he can t run, he can t throw, but if you need eight yards for a first down pat will get you nine. that s jimmy garoppolo up until yesterday. a great guy, a great story, but you re right, he will be cut. mika to the news. the united nations security council will be meeting today to ramp up diplomatic pressure on russia and offer moscow a chance to explain its massive troop buildup near ukraine s border. the security council is unified. our voices are unified in calling for the russians to explain themselves.
comes after cnn reported on friday the u.s. embassy in kiev requested the state department authorize the departure of family members of personnel in kiev and nonessential staff in kiev. and we re learning now that the state department has decided to grant that authorization because of reports, according to the state department, that russia is planning significant military action against ukraine. they continue in a statement saying the security conditions particularly along ukraine s borders in russia-occupied crimea and eastern ukraine are unpredictable and can deteriorate with little notice. demonstrations which turned violent at times regularly occur throughout ukraine including in kiev. this marks a dramatic escalation which is the u.s. is making contingency plans to evacuate americans from the country if it came to that amid this mass i have troop buildup.
there are preparations to impose massive consequences on russia for such actions as well as to three and four security on nato s eastern flank. this discussion with the president of european allies. the white house released it of that call, it comes as we learned that the president is refining military options for all scenarios when it comes to the situation and that includes potentially increasing that troop buildup as we heard nic talk about just a few minutes ago even ahead of any possible invasion from russia. it comes as the state department is taking the initial steps to start drawing down some of the staff over in ukraine starting with the non-essential personnel and their family. jen psaki delivered the message from the white house to americans over in ukraine. take a listen. about americans who are in ukraine. i know you said there is no precedent outside of afghanistan