that they are, in fact, getting prepared for a major attack on ukraine. what we have done is indicate to the world that this is not something russia has been provoked into. cnn is on the front lines of this story around the globe. but we start at the white house with cnn s mj lee. the white house says that they aren t going to close the door on diplomacy. are they really prepared to take this meeting? how likely do you think it is? for now, president biden is prepared to meet with vladimir putin, but there is a huge caveat and that caveat is that meeting only happens if russia does not invade ukraine. and all of the words that we have heard over the weekend from this administration is that the outlook does not look good. we heard national security adviser jake sullivan making clear over the weekend that if this attack were to happen, it would be incredibly violent. but this is an invasion that could happen any day now.
choreographed session of the security council in russia in which they were discussing the possibility that vladimir putin and his top officials of recognizing those rebel republics in the east of ukraine as independent states. it s something that s been sort of in the background for a long time. nuts it s now coming to the foreground. if russia does recognize the rebel republics as independent states, it will do so through an act of its own parliament and presumably be allowed if they invid russian troops to come in, deploy its forces and argue this is not in violation of international law. now the united states and the ukrainians have made it clear that they would they believe that that would be a gross violation of the ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereign too and there would be consequences for that in terms of punishment, if you like, for russia doing that. but i think the chances are, and this may be part of vladimir putin s calculus, that the tough sanctions that have b
start listening. and a weekend case study in how washington republicans navigate a big party divide, the choice between donald trump and mitch mcconnell. but up first, a new diplomatic scramble. a last-ditch joe biden and vladimir putin summit is now on the table and the white house says biden has agreed to the meeting in principle but there is one big condition. it will only happen if russia doesn t invade ukraine. president biden s decision is complicated by reports that american intelligence officials have a high level of confidence that putin has already decided to attack and today at the kremlin, the russian president has convened his national security council. here this morning, the white house national security adviser appeared on each network morning show to again sound the alarm. we have seen just in the last 24 hours further moves of russian units to the border with no other good explanation other than they are getting into position to attack. every indication we see on
just laid out. the white house is still pushing for diplomacy. take a listen to what secretary of state tony blinken told cnn. until the tanks are actually rolling and the planes are flying, we will use every opportunity and every minute we have to see if diplomacy can still dissuade president putin from carrying this forward. so we will wait until the tanks are rolling, but, you know, will diplomacy really, at this point, dissuade putin from what he seems intent to do? well, we will see. nato and the u.s. have put forward those proposals to russia. we re willing to talk about a number of different things. arms control, troop deployments, missile defenses, reviving the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty that the trump administration pulled out of. there are lots of ways we re willing to take president putin s security concerns seriously. but the problem is we are not willing to make the concession
only from us. xfinity. hello and welcome to inside politics. i m abby phillip in for john king in washington. joe biden says he will meet with vladimir putin but only if the russian leader doesn t invade ukraine. the problem, american intelligence officials say that putin has already ordered his commanders to do exactly that. plus, a warning for democrats from three of its most high-profile campaign gurus. a midterm shellacking is coming in november if the white house doesn t stop celebrate ing and