Overnight Defense & National Security — More Western pressure as Russia moves in

by Jordan Williams and Ellen Mitchell - 02/23/22 7:01 PM ET

It’s Wednesday, welcome to Overnight Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. Subscribe here: digital-release.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Russia has appeared to move forward on a large-scale incursion into Ukraine, with the U.S. and other Western nations quickly slapping additional sanctions and other financial penalties on the Kremlin and its interests in a last-ditch bid to halt a deadly invasion.

We’ll share where the U.S. believes Kremlin troops are now, details of the new U.S. sanctions on the company behind a controversial Russian natural gas pipeline, plus how the D.C. National Guard plans to help out around the Beltway amid expected protests next week.

For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. Write me with tips at emitchell@digital-release.thehill.com.

Let’s get to it.

Pentagon: Russian troops ‘ready to attack’

Tanks move during the Union Courage-2022 Russia-Belarus military drills

Western leaders said Wednesday that Russia appeared to be moving more troops into eastern Ukraine, with the Pentagon warning that Russian forces “could attack at any time.”

“We certainly believe that additional Russian military forces are moving into [the Donetsk and Luhansk regions],” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said during a briefing.

“We can’t confirm with any great specificity the numbers and what the formations are, what the capabilities are, but we certainly believe that that’s happening,” Kirby added.

Every indication: The Defense Department spokesman said officials have “seen, sadly and unfortunately, no indication” Russian President Vladimir Putin is “willing to de-escalate, move those troops back home and actually get to some sort of serious diplomatic solution. Every indication, rather, that we see is quite the opposite.”

Should Putin decide to conduct a full-scale invasion, “this will be a war of choice … and it won’t be bloodless,” Kirby said. “There will be suffering, there will be sacrifice, and all of that must and should be laid at his feet. Because he’s doing this by choice.”

More confirmation: Latvia’s prime minister earlier Wednesday confirmed that Russian troops had moved into the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

“According to the information at my disposal, Putin is moving additional forces and tanks into the occupied Donbas territories,” Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš told CNN. “By any definition that’s a crossing of a sovereign territory into a neighboring country.”

Read more on that here

Biden slaps on Nord Stream 2 sanctions

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In response to Moscow’s decision to send troops into eastern Ukraine, President Biden on Wednesday announced sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG, the parent company of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and its corporate officers.

“These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. As I have made clear, we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate,” Biden said.

Earlier: Last year, the Biden administration waived sanctions on the pipeline — generating pushback from Democrats and Republicans alike, who said it should take a harder line on Russia.

The administration’s decision to waive sanctions on the pipeline was widely viewed as a move meant to appease Germany after relations faltered under the previous Trump administration.

But following Russia’s incursion into breakaway regions in Ukraine this week, Germany also turned against the pipeline. On Tuesday, it announced that it would block its certification.

Lawmakers reaction: Domestically, the new sanctions against Nord Stream 2 move helped advance some of Biden’s State Department nominees, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he would lift a hold he had placed on them in response to last year’s waiver.

“President Biden made the right decision today,” Cruz said in a statement. “Allowing Putin’s Nord Stream 2 to come online would have created multiple, cascading, and acute security crises for the United States and our European allies for generations to come.”

The decision to sanction Nord Stream 2 AG also won Biden praise among Democratic critics of the pipeline.

Read more here.

Read more of today’s coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict:

Ukraine government websites down in latest cyberattack
Images show new deployment of military vehicles, troop tents in southern Belarus
Ukraine calls on allies to increase pressure on Russia after first ‘decisive steps’
Ukraine declares state of emergency, tells citizens to leave Russia

GOP unites around blaming Biden for Ukraine

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Lawmakers in both parties raced this week to condemn Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, denouncing Putin’s gambit as a brazen assault on international law, Ukrainian sovereignty and stability in eastern Europe.

But t hat’s about where the bipartisan agreement ends.

Republicans, while hammering Putin’s march toward war, also wasted no time placing the blame for the escalating hostilities squarely on the shoulders of President Biden, saying his administration cleared the way for Russia’s aggression with a series of foreign policy blunders, including the disastrous withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last August.

A pile on: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), speaking to reporters in Kentucky on Tuesday, said Putin would not have been emboldened to send upwards of 150,000 troops to the Ukrainian border “had we not precipitously withdrawn from Afghanistan.” House GOP leaders quickly joined the attack, accusing the president of adopting a foreign policy posture that was simply too soft to discourage Putin’s bellicose designs for Ukraine.

“Sadly, President Biden consistently chose appeasement and his tough talk on Russia was never followed by strong action,” the Republican leaders, including Reps. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Steve Scalise (La.) and Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), said in a statement.

An alternate view: Across the aisle, Democrats are singing a very different tune, praising Biden and his administration for moving swiftly to unite NATO and other key allies in Europe and beyond, many of which joined the United States this week in adopting tough new economic sanctions on Moscow.

“These unified steps make clear that the United States and our allies are not bluffing in our determination to inflict serious and painful consequences on Russia in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

What this means: The divergent partisan response highlights the extent to which cooperation on Capitol Hill has dissolved in recent years, even when it comes to foreign policy matters like Russian aggression, which stood through decades of the Cold War as a unifying force across a broad spectrum of political views.

It also reflects the sharp shift within the Republican Party on matters of foreign policy since the arrival of former President Trump, whose “America First” mantra defied the muscular approach to international affairs promoted by the more hawkish GOP leaders who preceded him — but also won him legions of followers fed up with Washington’s entanglements abroad, not least the long and costly conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read the full story here

NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT APPROVED

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved hundreds of unarmed National Guard troops to be deployed in Washington, D.C., ahead of a truck convoy protest against pandemic restrictions that is expected to coincide with President Biden’s first State of the Union address.

Austin late Tuesday approved a request that had been made by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) for assistance from National Guard members, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.

“All told, among the two requests it’s about 700 Guard personnel and about 50 vehicles. They are designed for traffic support in anticipation of potential challenges to traffic in the DC area surrounding some potential protest activity,” Kirby said.

Ready to assist: “The people who live, work and visit the District are part of our community, and their safety is our first mission priority,” Maj. Gen. Sherrie L. McCandless, D.C. National Guard commanding general, said in a separate statement earlier Wednesday. “Our MPD and USCP partners have asked for our help in ensuring people can demonstrate peacefully and safely, and we stand ready to assist.”

The details: Beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, the 50 “large tactical vehicles” will be placed at these traffic posts on a 24-hour basis. The deployment has been approved to last through March 7.

The deployed troops will not carry firearms, take part in law enforcement or carry out domestic surveillance activities. Aircraft have not been approved for use.

Bob Bolus, the organizer of the truck convoy protest, said earlier this week that his group is planning to shut down the Capital Beltway.

Read the full story here

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW

The German Marshall Fund of the United States will host a discussion on “The Russia-Ukraine Crisis and Turkey’s Balancing Act,” at 9 a.m.
Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė will speak at a Washington Post Live event on the crisis in Ukraine at 9 a.m.
The National Defense Industrial Association will hear from current and former defense officials on “Enabling the Joint Warfight: Joint All Domain Command and Control,” at 1 p.m.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth will discuss “Global Challenges and the Army’s Role,” at The Atlantic Council at 2 p.m.
The Association of the U.S. Army will hold a webinar on “Understanding Russia’s Grand Strategy,” with Andrew Monaghan, director of the Russia Research Network, at 2 p.m.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies will host a talk on “What’s Next for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan?,” with former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham, at 3 p.m.
British Ambassador to the United States Dame Karen Pierce will also speak at the Washington Post Live event on the crisis in Ukraine at 3 p.m.