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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Nahal Toosi and Quint Forgey | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Quint
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Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meets with President Joe Biden on Aug. 27, 2021. America’s staunchest Middle East ally is defying easy categorization when it comes to Russia. | Sarahbeth Maney-Pool/Getty Images | Earlier today, the State Department announced that India’s foreign and defense ministers will visit Washington next week to see top U.S. officials. Unlike nearly every other piece of paper the State Department has been producing lately, however, this news release was missing two words: “Russia” and “Ukraine.” It may seem like a small thing, and, to be fair, the statement did vaguely mention the “rules-based international order that safeguards sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Still, the omission of direct language that’s now routine in U.S. diplomacy — such as “Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine” — underscores just how sensitive and damaging a topic VLADIMIR PUTIN’s war has become in America’s relations with some key countries. In sum, despite their herculean and largely successful diplomatic efforts to rally the world to stand up to Russia (even Micronesia cut off diplomatic ties to Moscow), President JOE BIDEN and his aides have been unable to get some of America’s closest partners fully on board. The most glaring cases: India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and even Israel. This is bad news if Washington wants to make the Kremlin feel enough economic pain to abandon Ukraine. If countries like India keep buying Russian weapons and oil, if oil-rich Arab states won’t help ease energy prices, and if Israel lets Putin’s favorite oligarchs hang out on its soil with no repercussions … well, the war could last a lot longer than it should. But those same countries have their own interests to think about, and they don’t always align with those of Washington. Here’s a quick — but by no means comprehensive — breakdown of where America’s troublesome partners stand: — India: The Biden administration came in determined to keep India close, believing it needed New Delhi to counter China. On that front, India has been cooperative, enough so that the Biden team has downplayed India’s regressions on democracy and human rights. But India considers Russia an important friend; it’s a major purchaser of Russian military equipment and is reportedly purchasing discounted oil from Moscow. Indian officials point out that Moscow’s weapons and energy exports are often less expensive than those from the West. Biden aides have dispatched top officials like DALEEP SINGH to India and even addressed the issue from the White House podium. “We do not think India should accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities,” White House press secretary JEN PSAKI said this week . An Indian official familiar with the situation told POLITICO, however, that the matter was complex and that the Biden administration “understands India’s position based on legacy issues and current geopolitical constraints.” Next week’s meetings should be fun. — Saudi Arabia and the UAE: U.S. and European efforts to reduce their reliance on Russian oil and gas have added to the increase in energy prices that started late last year. But Saudi Arabia and the UAE have largely rebuffed U.S. efforts to convince them to significantly boost their energy production to ease the pain. This is a complicated situation, but a good deal of it comes down to lingering political friction. Over the past decade, America’s relations with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have been rattled by everything from disagreements over the Iran nuclear deal to the Saudi killing of journalist JAMAL KHASHOGGI. Thanks to their oil, the Gulf states now have leverage, and they seem willing to use it. It’s not entirely clear how much the Biden administration will play along. For now, the White House is trying to highlight the positive, such as the humanitarian aid the Arab countries have sent to Ukraine. “We’ve been pleased by the support provided to Ukraine by these partners,” a senior Biden administration official said. — Israel: America’s staunchest Middle East ally is defying easy categorization when it comes to Russia, a country with which it has had good relations. Israel has condemned apparent Russian war crimes in Ukraine, and it has voted in favor of some United Nations measures castigating Russia. It also has set up a field hospital in Ukraine. But Israel has not fulfilled Ukrainian requests for weapons and defensive military systems like the Iron Dome. Israelis officials say they are legally unable to join the U.S. and Europe in imposing sanctions on Russia. It’s not entirely clear how Israel will deal with Russian oligarchs who also have Israeli citizenship, but Israel has told the U.S. that it will not be used as a haven for sanctions evaders. Israeli Prime Minister NAFTALI BENNETT has tried to serve as a mediator in the Ukraine conflict, with little success. He is factoring in how Russia’s presence in nearby Syria affects his country’s strategic interests, while keeping in mind the significant Jewish communities in both Russia and Ukraine. Bennett also faces a political crisis at home, with his fragile coalition government on the verge of collapse, as well pressure to respond to a wave of recent terrorist attacks . For what it’s worth, U.S. officials such as Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN appear inclined to give Israel the benefit of the doubt. For now.
| | | SITUATION REPORT: We will only cite official sources. As always, take all figures, assessments and statements with a healthy dose of skepticism. War in Ukraine: — “Russia’s invasion has … created direct security threats to all states in the Black Sea region. Safety of international navigation is undermined. Russia is creating provocations against civilian vessels. Some of them are blocked in Ukrainian ports and have already been attacked by Russia.” (Ukrainian Defense Minister OLEKSII REZNIKOV) Global response: — European Union: An overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the European Parliament voted for a resolution demanding “an immediate full embargo on Russian imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas.” — France: Economy Minister BRUNO LE MAIRE said the French are “ready” for a ban on the import of Russian coal and oil, and Russia’s ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Paris after his embassy tweeted a picture suggesting the atrocities in Bucha were filmed on a set. — U.S.: Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO announced new enforcement actions aimed at preventing three Russian airlines — Aeroflot, Azur Air and Utair — from continuing to operate, both internationally and within Russia. Congress also cleared bills to revoke normal trade relations with Russia and ban oil imports from the country. — United Nations: The U.N. General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the 47-member Human Rights Council. The decision comes after the U.S. escalated calls for Russia’s ouster, and after Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY addressed the Security Council earlier this week. Headlines: — Reuters: “Feet Tied and Bullet to the Head: A Killing in Ukraine’s Bucha” — The Wall Street Journal: “How Ukraine Used a Ragtag Arsenal to Thwart Russia’s Air Attacks” — The Washington Post: “Biden at war: Inside a deliberate yet impulsive Ukraine strategy” GERMANS INTERCEPT INCRIMINATING RUSSIAN COMMS: Germany’s foreign intelligence service has intercepted Russian military radio traffic that sheds more light on Russian forces’ actions in Bucha, including apparent discussions between troops about the killing of civilians, reports Der Spiegel’s MELANIE AMANN, MATTHIAS GEBAUER and FIDELIUS SCHMID. “Some of the intercepted traffic apparently matches the locations of bodies found along the main road through town,” they write. In one intercepted conversation, “a soldier apparently told another that they had just shot a person on a bicycle. That corresponds to the photo of the dead body lying next to a bicycle that has been shared around the world.” In another intercepted conversation, “a man apparently said: First you interrogate soldiers, then you shoot them.” The new audio “indicates that the murder of civilians has become a standard element of Russian military activity, potentially even part of a broader strategy.” It also “apparently provides evidence that members of the Russian mercenary unit called the Wagner Group played a leading role in the atrocities.” KULEBA MAKES BID FOR MORE WEAPONS: Speaking from Brussels, where the top diplomats of the G-7 and NATO member states met to discuss the invasion, Ukrainian Foreign Minister DMYTRO KULEBA told reporters he had arrived with a “very simple” agenda: “It has only three items on it. It’s weapons, weapons and weapons.” “We are confident that the best way to help Ukraine now is to provide it with all [that is] necessary to contain Putin and to defeat [the] Russian army in Ukraine,” Kuleba said. He also warned that the coming battle for the eastern Donbas region — which Russian forces are expected to advance on after retreating from northern Ukraine — will be reminiscent of the type of combat seen in World War II. In a joint statement , the G-7 foreign ministers said they expressed to Kuleba their solidarity with Ukrainian people, and they vowed that those responsible for atrocities amid the invasion “will be held accountable and prosecuted.” VIDEO SEEMINGLY SHOWS UKRAINIANS KILLING CAPTURED RUSSIAN: A video posted to social media appears to depict Ukrainian soldiers shooting a captured Russian soldier near the village of Dmytrivka, west of Kyiv, per our own VICTOR JACK. The New York Times said it had independently verified the footage, which shows a group of Ukrainian troops walking among at least four stricken Russian combatants, who are tied up and lying on a rural road covered in blood. “Look — he’s still alive, he’s gasping,” one member of the group says, pointing the camera in the direction of one of the captives, who is gasping for air, his head covered by his jacket and clothes soaked in blood. One of the Ukrainian soldiers fires multiple shots at the wounded man, who then falls silent. The person filming the scene then pans across the road, where at least three other Russian soldiers are tied up and lying in pools of blood, before approaching a Ukrainian fighter and saying, “Glory to Ukraine.” The scene appears to have been filmed after a Ukrainian ambush of a Russian column of tanks around March 30, as Russian troops partially withdrew from towns to the west of Kyiv. OVERHEARD IN D.C.: ALEXANDER VINDMAN and GORDON SONDLAND — who were both wrapped up in the Ukraine scandal that resulted in former President DONALD TRUMP’s first impeachment — could be heard Wednesday night discussing their plans to debate Ukraine and the impeachment this fall at Duke University, per our own DANIEL LIPPMAN. Vindman served as director for European affairs at the National Security Council under Trump, while Sondland served as U.S. ambassador to the European Union. The two were attending a fundraiser in support of the nonprofit organization CORE’s work to aid Ukrainian refugees, hosted by BRITTANY SWALWELL and ROBERT and LO-MARI O’BRIEN. Actor SEAN PENN, the founder of CORE, was a special guest. FOR NED: We’re a little late in promoting this item, but we did wish to note the State Department’s recent announcement that it will start paying interns . “This is a BFD,” a certain department spokesperson told us. The department hopes the initiative will help attract a broader cross-section of Americans for its long-term workforce needs — not just people who can afford to work for free. Money is one thing, though, and recruitment is another. How many students beyond certain plush campuses even know the State Department offers internships? IT’S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com and qforgey@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter at @alexbward and @QuintForgey. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @BryanDBender, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @AndrewDesiderio and @JGedeon1.
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Working with the U.S. Navy, Lockheed Martin is digitally transforming Aegis – using DevSecOps, Model Based System Engineering and Virtualization, plus third-party partnerships to meet the rapidly evolving needs of the fleet. Learn more. | | | | | | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — SENATORS TELL STATE TO SPEED UP COFA TALKS: Sens. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) and BRIAN SCHATZ (D-Hawaii) spearheaded a new letter from lawmakers to Blinken, lamenting the “lack of progress” on negotiations to renew the Compacts of Free Association between the U.S. and the three sovereign Pacific Island nations known collectively as the Freely Associated States: the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. In the letter — cosigned by Sen. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.) and Hagerty — the lawmakers welcomed Biden’s appointment of Ambassador JOSEPH YUN to serve as special presidential envoy for compact negotiations and Blinken’s visit to Fiji in February, but they maintained that “more must be done to ensure that COFA negotiations successfully conclude before the agreements expire in 2023 and 2024.” Failing to broker new agreements before those deadlines “could have dire consequences,” the senators warned. The three nations’ annual budgets are heavily reliant on economic support from the U.S., and if the administration doesn’t renew that assistance, the resulting fissure could prompt the Freely Associated States “to deepen their relationships” with China, the senators said. “These islands span a vast area of the Pacific Ocean and are vital partners in the Indo-Pacific, especially given the maritime competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the region,” the senators added. “President Biden’s new Indo-Pacific Strategy promises to prioritize compact negotiations, describing them as ‘the bedrock of the U.S. role in the Pacific,’ but we have yet to see actions that signal real progress on finalizing new agreements. Given the Department of State’s lead role in these negotiations, we ask you to work with your colleagues in the Biden Administration to prioritize COFA renewal.” FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — HAGERTY HEADS TO JAPAN: Sen. BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who served as the U.S. ambassador in Tokyo under Trump, is scheduled to head up a bipartisan congressional delegation to Japan next week focused on the recently heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. He’ll be joined by Sens. BEN CARDIN (D-Md.), a fellow Foreign Relations Committee member, and JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas). Hagerty plans to meet with government and business leaders in Japan “to further strengthen the strong alliance between the U.S. and Japan, as well as to hear directly from these leaders about the ongoing challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, including North Korea’s escalating provocations and Communist China’s continued threats toward Taiwan,” his office said in a statement. Hagerty outlined several diplomatic priorities ahead of the trip, including “calling for additional emergency UN Security Council meetings to advance new sets of sanctions.” He also expressed concern about “the abduction of Japanese nationals by the North Korean regime” and demanded Blinken “follow through on the commitment to appoint a Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights as required by U.S. law.” Hagerty’s CODEL comes as the relationship between Seoul and Pyongyang has been increasingly strained. Seoul accused Pyongyang of test-firing an existing intercontinental ballistic missile last month when it claimed to have launched a more powerful, newly developed weapon. South Korea then announced last week that it conducted its first successful launch of a solid-fuel rocket. In addition, a warning last week from South Korean Defense Minister SUH WOOK — who said Seoul has preemptive strike capabilities should Pyongyang decide to attack — was met with fury from KIM YO JONG, the powerful sister of North Korean leader KIM JONG UN. TURKEY TRANSFERS KHASHOGGI TRIAL: A Turkish court has decided to move the trial of the 26 Saudis accused of killing Khashoggi in 2018 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, per the Associated Press’ AYSE WIETING and SUZAN FRASER, and the proceedings will now take place in Saudi Arabia. The trial’s transfer “comes as Ankara is trying to repair relations with Saudi Arabia,” and it marks “an abrupt reversal for Turkey, which had vowed to shed light on the killing and began prosecuting the defendants in absentia in 2020,” according to the AP. Human rights and press freedom groups have protested the change of venue, which they argue could allow Khashoggi’s killers to escape justice. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report last February assessing that Saudi Crown Prince MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, who had written critically about him. YEMEN’S PRESIDENT CEDES POWER: ABED RABBO MANSOUR HADI , the exiled Yemeni president, has dismissed his deputy and delegated his powers to a presidential council, advancing Saudi Arabia’s efforts to strengthen an anti-Houthi alliance, reports Reuters’ MOHAMED GHOBARI and AHMED TOLBA. Following the news of Hadi’s decision, Saudi Arabia announced $3 billion in financial aid to the Saudi-backed government. For seven years, Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in northern Yemen have battled a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and supported by the U.S. Last week, the two sides brokered a two-month truce — their first since 2016. Per Reuters, the deal “eased a coalition blockade on areas held by the Houthis, who ousted Hadi’s government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014.”
| | | META AXES ACCOUNTS ATTEMPTING TO HACK UKRAINE: Meta announced that it removed numerous government-linked accounts from Russia and Belarus that attempted to engage in cyber espionage and coordinated influence operations directed at the Ukrainian military, energy and telecom sectors, per our own REBECCA KERN and MAGGIE MILLER (for Pros!). The owner of Facebook said it has seen an increase in attempts to hack Ukrainian military accounts since Russia’s invasion into Ukraine began in late February. Meta said it blocked attempts by a Belarusian-linked government account to upload videos calling for the Ukrainian army to surrender. Though Meta officials said they’ve reduced distribution and labeled Russian state media accounts, plenty of disinformation about Russia's role in Ukraine still remains on Facebook and Instagram. Twitter announced this week that it was reducing the reach of 300 official Russian government accounts.
| | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | | SECDEF SQUARES OFF WITH SASC: Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN pledged to be “as transparent with you as possible” when confronted by lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee about still-unreleased details of the fiscal 2023 defense budget request, reports our own CONNOR O’BRIEN (for Pros!). Several members of the panel lamented the lack of specificity in the Biden administration’s national security plans — including Pentagon program budget justifications, a public National Defense Strategy and Nuclear Posture Review, and a long-range shipbuilding plan. Sen. DEB FISCHER (R-Neb.) hammered the Defense Department for not yet releasing budget justification books, which she predicted aren’t likely to be out until the middle of the month. She also expressed frustration that a public hearing with Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. MARK MILLEY and Comptroller MIKE MCCORD occurred without more budget details and public strategy documents. Meanwhile, ranking member Sen. JIM INHOFE (R-Okla.) called for a public debate on the National Defense Strategy and pressed Austin on when the administration’s overarching National Security Strategy — on which the Pentagon strategy is based — will be made public. “We only have a classified defense strategy and we have no National Security Strategy. So how are we supposed to connect the dots between the strategy and the budget?” he asked.
| | | SENATE REVAMPS WWII-ERA PROGRAM TO FIGHT PUTIN: The Senate unanimously passed major legislation to revive a program created during World War II, known as Lend-Lease, that would allow the president to more efficiently send weapons and other supplies to Ukraine, reports our own ANDREW DESIDERIO. The Lend-Lease program was seen as a game-changer during the most significant global conflict of the 20th century, enabling the U.S. to quickly resupply the Allies without time-consuming procedural hurdles. Lawmakers’ decision to redeploy the program now is yet another sign that the U.S. and European allies believe Russia’s invasion presents an existential threat to liberal order. The updated version of the program, known as the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, would expedite the transfer of critical military equipment and other critical supplies to Ukraine by cutting bureaucratic red tape. It allows for the de facto gifting of equipment, with provisions stipulating that recipient countries would repay the U.S. at a later date.
| | | |   | | | | | | DUDA DISSES MACRON: Polish President ANDRZEJ DUDA appeared to endorse criticism that Polish Prime Minister MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI leveled earlier this week against French President EMMANUEL MACRON for negotiating with Putin. “One should not negotiate with criminals, one should fight them. … Nobody negotiated with Hitler. Would you negotiate with Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot?” Morawiecki asked Monday, after the scope of the atrocities in Bucha came into full view. Macron responded Wednesday , calling those remarks “both baseless and scandalous.” But in a new interview with CNN’s DANA BASH, Duda maintained that “dialogue with Russia has no sense” and backed up his nation’s prime minister: “One has to present very tough conditions to Vladimir Putin. One has to say, ‘Unless you meet these conditions, we don’t have anything to talk about.’ … If you conduct a dialogue which does not achieve anything, it is only a game to buy time by Russia.” Duda also broke with Biden, saying it’s “hard to deny” that Russian forces carried out genocide in Bucha and that the massacre there “fulfills the features of a genocide, especially if you look at the context of different conversations that are being conducted.” The U.S. has thus far been reluctant to accuse Russia of genocide, although Ukrainian officials have repeatedly made that allegation.
| | | — CAROL SPAHN has been announced as the president’s nominee to serve as director of the Peace Corps. She currently serves as CEO of the agency and previously served as its acting director.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — BILL CLINTON, The Atlantic: “Why I Expanded NATO” — NORIMITSU ONISHI and CONSTANT MÉHEUT, The New York Times: “ A Reinvented Marine Le Pen Threatens to Upend French Elections” — ULIANA PAVLOVA, POLITICO Magazine: “The Putin Generation is Fleeing Putin’s Russia”
| | | — National Action Network, 7:30 a.m.: “NAN Convention 2022 — with ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, DONALD M. REMY and more” — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 8:30 a.m.: “Responsible AI in a Global Context — with GREGORY C. ALLEN, MIGNON CLYBURN, JOHN J. HAMRE, JAMES ANDREW LEWIS, KARINE PERSET, BRAD SMITH, JULIE SWEET and HELEN TONER” — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 8:30 a.m.: “Strategic Japan 2022: Competition in New Domains — with TATSUSHI AMANO, MICHAEL J. GREEN, FUKUNARI KIMURA, MIHOKO MATSUBARA and SUGIO TAKAHASHI” — Foreign Policy, 9 a.m.: “ India’s Response to Putin’s War — with RAVI AGRAWAL, SUHASINI HAIDAR and SHIVSHANKAR MENON” Have a natsec-centric event coming up? Transitioning to a new defense-adjacent or foreign policy-focused gig? Shoot us an email at award@politico.com or qforgey@politico.com to be featured in the next edition of the newsletter. And thanks to our editor John Yearwood, one ally our copy can always count on. | | A message from Lockheed Martin: Connecting multi-domain assets and evolving our Common Source Library to an Integrated Combat System
Warfighters need unmatched technology solutions to own the fight and maintain mission advantage. Lockheed Martin is leveraging digital transformation to increase speed and effectiveness and stay ahead of rapidly evolving global threats. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
