of partner it makes russia. look strong on the international agenda it doesn't isolate russia the greatest fear of russia to be isolated to be completely neglected to be disrespected by the west and here by this suggestion of biden to meet maybe in geneva or in vienna in the next weeks i think it will happen. and biden will meet the russian leader before he meets the european leaders in paris and berlin or in brussels is a clear sign which russia cannot ignore and i want to come back to that a little bit later on but let me go now to. your opening statement refers to the creeping an accession of the eastern ukrainian region of. in fact an all out invasion is. not generally moscow's style until now. infiltration hybrid warfare have been their preferred methods so do you think that is changing would you expect to see a true military offensive here. i would not exclude that but i think it's about 80 percent or 70 percent and. muscle flexing. and threatening ukraine and the west and about 20 or 30 percent maybe mili

crane refuses russia's demand that it talk directly to pro moscow separatist leaders russia refuses to withdraw from crimea she documented in 2014. and lists a political deadlock on many levels remain the breakdown in the current ceasefire was fairly predictable because the sides were negotiating in good faith it's not negotiating in good faith in probably in about october and they've reached the point where they were instead of trying to find common ground they were deliberately putting forth proposals that they knew would annoy the other side or that they knew would be nonstarters and once that starts to happen then you know that the breakdown of the ceasefire is only a small it's only a matter of time russia calls it a military exercise ukraine says it is a dangerous provocation after 7 years of failed peace negotiations the un says almost 3 and a half 1000000 people are an urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection in eastern ukraine. but al-jazeera. let's bring in our guests into the show we have joining us from moscow victor all over church a political analyst and lead

but generally the relations with it's really between israeli and russia are good and a russia will not try to change that does not want to push for a more complicated relation because russia needs italy if he is one as i said before one of the strongest e.u. allies that it has. pavol this whole thing is really extraordinary the says that you might think the whole weist east espionage activities were over by the by the end of the cold war which doesn't seem to be the case when you look away as has been happening over the last few years in europe russia using sometimes absolutely sophisticated to be a sometimes very pretty primitive means to try to get more information from europe what is russia's trying to establish here. what you should really understand which westerners often don't and that russia has 2 main intelligence services it's merchant urges former g.r.u. and former 1st director of k.g.b. now now and has also heritage yes. and so that's one is political the other is military and the political as yet are well taken into consideration political different things and could make me

across talking russia u.s. relations i'm joined by my guest lattimer goldstein in providence he is the chair of the department of slavic studies at brown university in pittsburgh we have dan he is so he professor of law and author of the plot to scapegoat russia and tell us what we crossed the jeremy whose motto he is managing editor of covert action magazine and author of 4 books on u.s. foreign policy including the russians are coming again all right gentlemen crosstalk rules and a fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it glad i'm here let me go to you 1st here as i said in my introduction the relationship is in tatters there's a virtually no relationship right now and it seems to me that washington simply doesn't want to have a relationship with moscow if moscow won't take the ne and you and i know that's never going to happen so we're in a stalemate is long it's peaceful i suppose we can all live with it here but we have something in the middle called the ukraine and other

but it makes russia specht of partner it makes russia. look strong on the international agenda it doesn't isolate russia the greatest fear of russia to be isolated to be completely neglected to be disrespected by the west and here by this suggestion of biden to meet maybe in geneva or in vienna in the next weeks i think it will happen. and biden will meet the russian leader before he meets the european leaders in paris and berlin or in brussels is a clear sign which russia cannot ignore and i want to come back to that a little bit later on but let me go now to. your opening statement refers to the creeping alex station of the eastern ukrainian region of. in fact an all out invasion is. not generally moscow style until now. infiltration hybrid warfare has been the preferred methods so do you think that is changing would you expect to see a true military offensive here. i would not exclude that but i think it's about 80 percent or 70 percent and. muscle flexing. and threatening ukraine and the west and about 20 or 30 percent maybe military

sanctions already against russia for poisoning alexei navalny, new sanctions against russia today against multiple ti individuals and entities for the solarwinds attack. but on this case of whether russia put bounties on u.s. troops, no action taken, at least that we can tell. the white house press secretary jen psaki explaining that the intelligence community looked closely at the intelligence here and they feel like this one is not nailed down. they have only low to moderate confidence that russia actually did this. jen psaki saying today at the white house that the e intelligence community does have stronger confidence that russiae intelligence, specifically the gru, is actively involved with criminal gangs and networks in afghanistan, and they want an explanation from russia about pl that. but on the specific super inflammatory question as to whether that extends to russia having paid cash bounties for criminals and fighters in afghanistan to target u.s. an service members, no firm conclusion.mb and so no sanctions or punishment for russia on that, a at least for now, although the adm

to europe, but we still operate seamlessly with our people outside of russia, inside of russia. we see increased pressure. it's not the first time that we see it. we have adjusted before. we'll adjust our work now. so our activities will definitely continue. this is a hard question to ask, and it's probably an even harder one to answer — but what happens if alexei navalny dies in prison? maybe he's an abstract person for you and for most of your viewers, but for me, it is a friend, a live being and i'm not ready to... i have to say i have interviewed mr navalny on hardtalk, so i have some experience, i've spent time with him in moscow. i know him as a personality, as a person, but i suppose i'm also exploring what it means politically if the man who so dominates the opposition movement and for whom you and others, you know, you work with this sense that he is the leader. if he is no longer there, what do you do? he's alive now. we're applying all our efforts to put domestic pressure on russian authorities, international pressure. we are not ready to entertain this thought just

the idea of russia would be passed in. a conflict at any cost to be a mistake and so even if you take those of the most. nations. you have to also ask them so what is the kremlin's base of interest that is to be russia's. and to. make clear that it isn't. and then. as a protector once you have a conflict the risk of escalation is there and the simple reality is that for russia it's like the issue absence of the cross government but it's not who are from definition west nor pans. so what where does that leave us it leaves us in situation we might find ourselves provoking a major conflict and i want you to back out of that is not always easy to do once you start upright you can then lay down the ground rules that's right that's why we call it the fog of war marcus i mean looking at it at secretaries they plane can and sullivan here are they ideologues in your mind are they opportunists do they think in geopolitical terms because you know we you know sullivan said he wanted to have a foreign policy for the middle class which

you take the completely negative view of russia's role since 2000. it still makes sense to just so what do we want out of this do we want to have a conflict with russia now it will be suicidal and soft but also we can see if you're trying to have somebody using the game and they think it's matter of debts then you're going to find us all in a real punctual and i think fortunately perhaps with god save the summit warships the black sea the americans who realize that they don't want to raise the stakes too high and then find themselves having to retreat or question who was. more problematic still or just correct you know once you know a discussion is but war school board don't trump us amateur predictable and so on in his foreign policy. insofar as there is any continuity with it's well they carry on with their policies but also carry on with. this is all the more bizarre because . all of them the national security being in holy ghost or including the case of them come back into the late ninety's so we we find ourselves innocent as you know puzzle thes

partner it makes russia. look strong on the international agenda it doesn't isolate russia the greatest fear of russia to be isolated to be completely neglected to be disrespected by the west and here by this gesture and to meet maybe in geneva or in vienna in the next weeks i think it will happen. and biden will meet the russian leader before he meets the european leaders in paris and berlin or in brussels as a sign which russia cannot ignore and i want to come back to that a little bit later on but let me go now to roman. and your opening statement refers to the creeping alex ation of the eastern ukrainian region of donbass in fact an all out invasion is not generally moscow style until now. infiltration hybrid warfare have been the preferred method so do you think that is changing would you expect to see a true military offensive here. i would not exclude but i think. it's about 80 percent or 70 percent. muscle flexing. and threatening ukraine and the west and what 20 or 30 percent maybe military escalatio

towards russia because they. have in fact engaged in this explosion reduced dollars the number of 18 and this is not the 1st time it's been going on for a few years and now this. these difficulties between the czech government and most would not be doing the job president. there's an issue when i look at statements from foreign ministry and i've been doing this job for quite a while martin it is usually diplomatic it's usually tightly scripted and we know that nothing is put on on paper or are said very easily but this seems to rock the russian foreign minister seem to think washington is pulling all the strings here how likely is that. well it should smirk to say that most who are there thinks that washington is behind all this because biden has come out with some very strong language about you do approach him. and he's talking about bringing the nato alliance closer together bringing the west coast of the gether going to compete with russia little china and the czech republic and one of the members of that coal

will stand with them when it comes to any potential confrontations with russia. i think so i mean is a question that broader than that in that there was there's been some concern that the allies and cells are divided over russia you've got some nato partners that want to make a take a very firm stance and others that want to more cooperative approach and you're seeing this particularly in the case of the north stream pipeline debate within the alliance oh yes part of the u.s. effort has been to reaffirm u.s. ties to the alliance which i would argue were strong and even in the trumpet ministration but they've been they've taken steps to reinforce that and but also you're still seeing disputes over the question of the pipeline perhaps nato spending you know they had 2 recent meetings lately but on the question of ukraine the alliances and the europeans and the americans stood very firm i would not have expected the e.u. for example to keep on rolling over its extensive sanctions since it would just take one e.u. state block them against russia for its actions in uk

president i'm talking about russia attacking our election russia once again interfered in the race for the white house russia is indeed interfering in the 2020 election with that kind of a double standard it should come as no surprise that people's trust for c.n.n. is on the decline but we don't think that this is all the personal attacks just. makes this worse when you're caught red handed hiding the way you do business from your viewers that's one thing but accusing someone else for breaking the very rules you yourself were caught breaking well that's another it's a rinky dink toopid organization what do you want it c.n.n. that scared defense immunized from any responsibility because nobody takes them seriously and as far as project very callous and james o'keefe god bless him but how many exposé these must be produced before something's done things done and nothing jeff zucker still there everybody still there but let me explain simple their ratings are plummeting those who want to watch c.n.n. if there's no trunk what do you do talk about what a great job items don't read what a g

russia russia russia russia and you're going to say. yeah and i one that we all have to wonder on this on this program where that's going to lead what does mean what does it mean a successful policy that's a big question you know i am going to jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on ukraine staying with our. the world is driven by dreamers shaped by the curse of those with. no dares thinks. we dare to ask. because the slowness of the blood of them so moving. to build your school the local walls before. much of those who heard it's a bit of you are mostly other we do so soon we will live north we will. move. move but it. will show you the snooper you will to live will believe you since you look very good. more muslim also and this dulce will give you films for good girls. to go to shows so look why do you distribute belonging to show explore its all you should go. to starbucks to order some to get to meet until it was a little missed don't see a look it is it's. just tes

the oceans that separate the united states from both russia and china at least the european part of russia from the united states so i do have some hope that some of these geo political factors and geo strategic factors. the real ism will kick in at some point and i think biden at least as. he's an experienced foreign policy and but on the other hand has been saying that can be a wag meyer being captive to you know old thinking and the reactor sees and that's what he's going to have to fight trump had to fight the opposite that he was he didn't really follow any of that and sometimes he got himself into trouble by just going doing whatever he wanted so you know it's one there's advantages and disadvantages to both approach but i think the united states really needs to get attention to that the world has changed and needs to you know rid of some of these alliances i'm pretty radical on that point i think they're outdated and you know they can drag us into wars that we don't want to be in both in east asia and in europe i absolutely do but on many times on cross talk and you and i completely

russia. to diplomats in a retaliatory move after prague accused of being behind a huge explosion at an ammunition depot 7 years ago and threw russian diplomats out of the country. while in a week of strained international diplomacy. the u.s. with sanctions. for washington imposing restrictions on russia. which came at the same time as calls from president biden for. mixed messages coming from america also ahead. state of minnesota anger over the fatal police shooting of dante wright continues to raise. the network's the most trusted name in news. international. to have you with us as we recap the week's top stories now russia has declared 20 czech diplomats persona non grata amid an escalating diplomatic spat between the 2 countries it is in response to prague expelling 18 russian diplomats while accusing moscow of being behind a huge explosion at an ammunition depot back in 2014 russia firmly rejects the charges leveled. the accusations herb's surge especially as earlier the czech government

separatists who are backed by russia militarily. to or to to start a fire are what and by caution in ukraine i mean are you crying should be very careful not to. create a situation like we had in georgia in 2008 when we had some weeks of fighting in the region of south ossetia and then the georgia decided we will try to liberate as they say the president saakashvili said that region and russia of course was nearby was ready in a standby motos and then the invasion was legitimized so to say yes and this is this is what russia maybe would like to see in ukraine as well russia would like to see ukraine make a mistake and maybe let itself be provoked by by the fighting of the recent weeks and this is this is probably the biggest danger and the biggest challenge for the ukrainian government but i don't see any proof or any any evidence that ukraine might do that because if you if you take a c.n.n. camera team with you you're just trying to show to the world you're trying to use the media ukrainian president is a media medium and he's a m

and europe are urging russia to stand down to russia ukraine crisis what does putin want to find out from the 2 point cut the next couple are. going to come a good folks a because i'm patient to gibson limits. the economy. consuming the worst fighting the taliban. strong women tough faced. in 45 minutes on d w. all. 19. it's their story their very own personal drama. people to chesterfield remember. and they share private footage with us that has never been seen before. back at the tribal structure april 28th on t w. tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry the russian build up on the border to ukraine looks more like preparations for invasion than the standard military exercise that russia claims it is conducting it is the most massive show of force since russia's 2014 and accession of crimea since then russia has been deploying mercenaries volunteers and local calabro.

against russia or in russia so this is. this is a support which is demonstrated not only words but also in deeds during the meeting today rule of course discuss how we can further strengthen our partnership and our conferred to demonstrate the strong support of nato allies on a top to ukraine. he's been listening to nato secretary general against sultan but he's speaking alongside the foreign minister of ukraine been holding talks against a backdrop of a big build up of russian military along the border between ukraine and russia let's turn to our correspondent in paris and tasha butler has also been listening in to a very strong words for russia from yemen stoltenberg. yes yes stoltenberg the secretary general of nato calling russia's buildup of troops along ukraine's eastern border and in crimea calling them unjustified unexplained and deeply concerning that what jens stoltenberg said is that there are more troops being deployed in those areas there's been a greater number than there were back in 2014 when russia illegall

russia russia russia russia you are going to . yeah and i one that we all have to wonder on this on this program where that's going to lead what does mean what does it mean a successful policy that's a big question here or i'm going to jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on ukraine state with our. home see the blue of them so much. good with. wolf. blitzer those who couldn't support you'll never see him we will. go. but it. sure didn't look you believe it's a clue who the. movie. is also good you. good good. good good issue also look i do the same you do let me kiss walk the store move to the issue go. to start ups to hold us to it's who needed oh it was the little one wished they'd say look it is a. chance touched not a chance to just meet them mashed on truck stop the president on please contribute more to. the real issues to go in the summer to snuff or come up with new yorkers those the girls are with you for your supporters to your station shouldn't be you s

russia. secondly the biggest competitor of china. but seeing russia as much more of appear power. and in 2021, 30 years after the collapse of the soviet union having this conversation. as i will explain as the talk goes on it is surprising, having this conversation, in 1991. most people say no, by relying on some of the data just a quick review of russia's disruption internationally. since 2014 and the seizure of crimea from ukraine, a policy of the united states not to recognize crimea as part of russia, but it has become part of russia. in 2015, quick and effective mobilization into syria fundamentally changing the facts on the ground working with iran to maintain but sharla saad. 2016 us presidential election interference as well as interference with the referendum later. giving about $7 million to marine le pen as she prepared for her bid on the french presidency, the us warship considering until now. in 2018-19, in eastern europe, and beyond, the solar wind software, implanting code into

russia this time if russia further escalates the situation at its border with ukraine or even considers an invasion but it's actually not the parliament that this so it's countries and last time their foreign ministers met it's not a long time ago a couple of days ago they decided not to impose new sanctions on russia they only ask russia to further deescalate but there's one thing many people here brussels can't agree on and that's the fact that so rice and so with russia are are at an all time low and many fear it will further escalate. i do wonder sometimes what is the point of the european parliament you just said the decision is not there is it belongs to the heads of state. and if they are going to sanction is there any evidence that anything that the you has done to sanction russia has had any effect at all. the role of the european parliament is to put pressure that's one of their roles to put pressure on member states they can decide on sanctions they can say we want sanctions and then your member states have to go forward and put sanctions in place but let's look at russia for

russia responds to u.s. sanctions by expelling 10 american diplomats and slapping a travel ban on 8 current and former u.s. officials. and kim but now this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up police in indianapolis identify the gunman who killed 8 people at a fed ex facility as a 19 year old former employee. for the 1st time in decades cuba's communist party won't be led by a castro. and an important scientific advance all the stuff of nightmares research is create the 1st embryo from human and monkey cells. relations between the u.s. and russia have hit the lowest point in years moscow has retaliated to u.s. sanctions by eggs banning 10 diplomats and banning former and current officials from entering the country came a day after the u.s. imposed similar mischa's cues in russia of election interference and cyber attacks but its move has more from moscow. the russian government says its response to u.s. sanctions is tit for tat 10 u.s. diplomats will have to leave and a senior current and former admin

russia russia russia and you're going to see. yeah and i want we all have to wonder on this on this program where that's going to lead what does mean what does it mean a successful policy that's a big question you know where i'm going to jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on ukraine stay with aren't. you know a lot of people speculate why they're not god exists or not i'll tell you one thing that i can guarantee does not exist financial regulators. today the industry prefers to millions of you know the. daily beast is. all about making money and profits the corporations international markets import export do you imagine the number of crime the diseases that are in every community it is not due to new viruses or new microbes that's not true so it is due to environment. and say you know that moment of discipline this sort of muscles are really just accumulate could only come in to be seen to be sad. if the so food industry is successful it will create more jobs i

it was not of course russia will start that base confrontation because look for russia it's the least appropriate moment you know the fate of their north jim to has been decided right now this is a new would be a stray ssion in the united states we don't want to tell you more stop for it you know with a bomb or you know the table and or ministration so the only party that was interested was your creation because you know. basically mr selenski almost the local 'd election here was his ratings were down he didn't get any calls from western leaders for months now even got a call from biden he's got a call from boris johnson he talked to young stole them back from a fuel stop and back said the vote of stupidity is slake nato will not give you a law your a privileged partner oh georgia was also privileged bachmann befalls an aide so these are all dangerous brew occasions whose aim is to put the blame on russia and this most discussed in russia and a lot of people said by the ukrainians prove all we can us you know the russian. hawks and then you know my friend roxanne you should from unde

well certainly russia could have gone further but i think it's important for your audience to realize why the u.s. response seems so erratic and inconsistent why it seems that mr biden is trying to ride 2 horses going a different directions at the same time on the one hand there's a lot of hysteria in washington about the rise of china china is in the crosshairs that's the import of the testimony this week on capitol hill by u.s. intelligence chiefs the atlantic council a conservative think tank and other powerful forces estimate that in order to confront china they need to have russia on board but russia does not seem to be interested in climbing aboard so in some ways these sanctions and these other measures or can be considered coercive diplomacy at the same time there are forces in washington who are very upset by the fact that moscow helped to rescue the beleaguered regime in damascus syria president all the sot there is frustration with the fact that with regard to this u.s. quite mire in afghanistan that the united states might need to call on must tell to help pull washington'

europe are urging russia to stand down to russia ukraine crisis what does want to find out. to the point that the next to come t w a. can't. come a good folks a because i'm patient. the economy. is setting the bar. one tight strong women tough. in 45 minutes on d w. in many countries education is still a privilege poverty is one of the main causes some juncture i'm working minute roasts instead of going to class and you just can't attend classes only have to be finished making. millions of children not only for the world to have to go to school. we ask why. because education makes the world more just. make up your own mind. d.w. make for minds. tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry the russian build up on the border to ukraine looks more like preparations for invasion than the standard military exercise that russia claims it's conducting it is the most massive show of force since russia's 2014 an exception of crimea and since then russia has been deploying mercenaries volunteers and local collaborators to wage hybrid warfare in eastern ukraine now kiev for along w

to stop trying to provoke russia and war. response. some countries have adopted the highly indecent habit of blaming russia with any excuse and usually without any reason it's turned into a kind of sporting competition a new sport who speaks louder than we react to that with the highest restraint and you could say without any irony with modesty often we don't even respond to unfriendly actions or even to open rudeness we want to keep good relations with all participants in the international community which we see what's happening in real life as i already said they're picking on russia all over the place without reason and of course immediately around them all sorts of little jackals run around like with shear just like in the kipling story howling to gain favor with the ruler kipling is a great writer but we really don't want to burn bridges but if someone mistakes our good intentions for indifference or weakness and is determined to completely burn or even blow up these bridges that person must know the brushes and so will be as symm

girl some wings that russia has achieved in their region that is also earth that is always want russia to start in a fancy to you capture some territory or to gain stomping and then to talk like our russia can go one step back after having done 2 steps forward nand to present because as it diplomacy as a diplomatic victory i think that. many things will be dependent on how strong and how to seize it by will come to these negotiations barks now it looks like a minor victory for putin it was he's intent invited by to start negotiations and out there is nothing to you negotiate about russia you must earn bring our troops out of the greater russia months must stop the threat your brain and its neighbors russia must stop to you or bombard to share the positions and russia must talk to occupy printing of that so earth simple nothing needs to be used after you are missing let me ask you what about the mentality inside the kremlin is it moscow's belief that ukraine belongs to russia. i would say. the most important thing is that for putin for age that ukraine should be a russian baths are like

this week nother low point in russia u.s. relations as both countries unleashed sanctions on each other moscow expelled 10 u.s. diplomats from russia and advised the acting u.s. ambassador to return home. the latest attack on a country by divided ministration cannot. it seems that washington does not want to accept the fact that in the new geo political realities there is no place for unilateral dictatorship and the broken scenarios of containing moscow which the us short sightedly continues to deploy when you risk further degrading russia u.s. relations we knew that this was coming in one form or another it was just a matter of time and on friday russia very demonstrative retaliated against those punitive measures that washington once against moscow earlier this week perhaps the most interesting part is that 8 top level washington officials have been banned from entering russian territory we're talking the head of the f.b.i. the director of national intelligence the secretary of homeland security to i people who are powerful

build up on its borders with ukraine and crimea russia's ambassador to the u.k. is one of a blood off if ukraine responded by also moving troops to the region now russia is embroiled in a rally with the czech republic its accused 2 russian spies of being behind deadly blasts at a check ammunition warehouse in 2014 it's expelled 18 russian embassy staff of the incident and in response russia says it's expelling 20 czech diplomats who must leave on monday but it's smith in moscow begins our coverage. a series of explosions hit this ammunition depot 330 kilometers southeast of prague in october and december 24th seen 2 men were killed almost 7 years later the czech government says it now knows who is responsible and i quote you know that she based on clear evidence obtained during the investigation conducted by our security services i can say there is a well grounded suspicion about the involvement of officers of the russian intelligence service in the explosions at them when you know 2014 these are the 2 men the czech government wants to question the travel to prag

russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman tells our 1st the child r.t. .

but it makes russia specht of partner it makes russia. look strong on the international agenda it doesn't isolate russia the greatest fear of russia to be isolated to be completely neglected to be disrespected by the west and here by this gesture by and to meet maybe in geneva or in vienna in the next weeks i think it will happen. and biden will meet the russian leader before he meets the european leaders in paris and berlin or in brussels as a sign which russia cannot ignore and i want to come back to that a little bit later on but let me go now to. your opening statement refers to the creeping alex ation of the eastern ukrainian region of. in fact an all out invasion is. not generally moscow style until now. infiltration hybrid warfare has been their preferred methods so do you think that is changing would you expect to see a true military offensive here. i would not exclude that but i think it's about 80 percent or 70 percent and. muscle flexing. and threatening ukraine and the west and about 20 or 30 percent maybe military escalation

russia. this is because the u.s. sanctioned russians. it is going to stop the u.s. embassies and missions from hiring russians and other third-country nationals to work in their missions, this will affect everything from drivers" to analyst staff. it has also been suggested by the russian foreign ministry that the u.s. ambassador here goes back to washington for consultations because the russian ambassador is in moscow for consultations. 1 several your anchor: several european leaders are urging russia to reverse the russian troop buildup on the border with ukraine. this follows a videoconference with leaders from germany, france and ukraine. police in indianapolis have identified the gunman who killed eight fedex workers before killing himself. 19-year-old brandon whole was a former employee of the carrier company. he had previously been interviewed by the fbi after his mother called police, flagging mental health concerns. the mother of a young black man shot dead by police during a traffic

the russia has blamed -- the u.s. is concerned by the buildup of russian forces at the ukraine border. running is now is gary o'donoghue. justice: days ago president biden spoke to president putin and they were talking about it possible summit but president biden is chosen sanctions over the summit. reporter: i think this is a dual strategy, pressure, carrot and stick, whatever you want to call it. this is the administration setting out that it will not be pushed around, it will react -- retaliate for those things it believ it as proof or but it will hold the hand of peace out as well to de-escalate the situation. the president saying this is proportionate action he is taking, that he could have gone further, chose not to because he wanted it to fit what the russians have done, but try and get a relationship going that is more stable and predictable as the white house puts it. anchor: this is a very different tone to that of president with russia. reporter: it is a hugely different tone. if you cast your mind back to

it makes russia. look strong on the international agenda it doesn't isolate russia the greatest fear of russia to be isolated to be completely neglected to be disrespected by the west and here by this gesture by and to meet maybe in geneva or in vienna in the next weeks i think it will happen. and biden will meet the russian leader before he meets a european leaders in paris and berlin or in brussels is a clear sign which russia cannot ignore and i want to come back to that a little bit later on but let me go now to. your opening statement refers to the creeping alex station of the eastern ukrainian region of. in fact an all out invasion is. not generally moscow style until now. infiltration hybrid warfare has been the preferred method so do you think that is changing would you expect to see a true military offensive here. i would not exclude that but i think it's about 80 percent or 70 percent and. muscle flexing. and threatening ukraine and the west and what 20 or 30 percent maybe military escalatio

and russia. hospitals across south asia are at breaking point some say more severe wave of covert 19 sweeps across the region india is reporting the world's highest number of new infections within 261000 in just 24 hours egyptian local media are reporting at least 16 people having killed in a train derailment and 100 others have been injured that happened as the train was traveling near the city of north of cairo. a massive fire in the south african city of cape town has ravaged large parts of table mountain far as often breakouts in this part of south africa during the periods of traits. at least 70 people have been killed in violence in yemen smart and thais province's government forces say a battle for control of the all rich regions has intensified securing the past 24 hours well those are the headlines stay with us an al-jazeera inside story is next . well russia could go to war against ukraine moscow masses its troops along the border what's prompted the escalation how much of a threat is i