During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) spoke about ongoing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The gentleman yields back. The chair and I recognize the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. Bacon.
00:05Thank you both for being here. I appreciate you both, and I applaud your service, Dr. Cavoli, and congratulate you.
00:12I served in Europe. I was the commander at Ramstein, deputy commander at Third Air Force.
00:17I know the importance of NATO. It's been the bedrock or the foundation of our security for seven decades.
00:22I know the threat that Russia poses. I've studied it my whole career.
00:26So my first question for Ms. Thompson. I have significant concerns about our approach to relations with Russia.
00:32I do not like how we are treating Russia with kid gloves like they're our friend.
00:38And often we use very harsh words towards our allies in Europe and Ukraine in particular.
00:44Does this administration see Russia as a potential partner in things such as resolving tensions in the Middle East?
00:50I'm just trying to get to motives.
00:53Congressman, what I would say is, as the interim national defense strategy guidance points out,
00:59Russia, Iran, North Korea, China still pose great threats and we live in an extremely dangerous security environment.
01:06And so I would acknowledge that up front, just to get to the crux of your question.
01:10What I would say is the goal for President Trump in peace negotiations is obviously to bring both sides to the table.
01:16And to do that, you know, we have to make sure that both scales are balanced to get both parties in a room and talking.
01:23And so, you know, what I would say from what you're seeing from the administration is that at the end of the day,
01:28the goal is to get both sides to the table and keep both sides at the table so that we can get to the overall objective that I think we all share,
01:34which is an enduring peace in Ukraine.
01:36Does this administration believe that an approved bilateral, including economic relations between the U.S. and Russia,
01:41is worth pursuing once peace in Ukraine has been achieved?
01:45Sir, unfortunately, I can't speak to those dynamics.
01:48I would direct you to the State Department for, you know, any sort of follow-on diplomatic elements that would come after this.
01:54The Department of Defense is squarely focused on supporting President Trump's efforts to reach an enduring peace.
02:00I just wish we had clear moral clarity when it comes to Russia and Ukraine.
02:06Who's the good guy?
02:07Who's the bad guy?
02:08Who's the invader?
02:09Who's the victim?
02:10And who's committing the war crimes?
02:12And I applaud the efforts for peace, but we can't whitewash Russia's behavior to get them to the table.
02:19I think they, we all see what they're doing and we should be very clear about it.
02:24My next question is John Cavoli.
02:26I'm deeply concerned about the security situation in Eastern Europe with the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by war criminal Putin.
02:32I believe that if he is not stopping Ukraine, he will continue to turn his attention towards other former Soviet states,
02:38like Moldova, or going next to the Baltic nations, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
02:42Will the U.S. maintain its presence in these countries to ensure that Russia is deterred from further aggression?
02:48Sir, clearly that will be a policy decision that will be made as time goes on.
02:56We're in a good position right now.
02:58Is it correct that the department's considering pulling out two rotational brigades out of Europe?
03:04Sir, as I said earlier, you know, there's a constant review of this all the time.
03:08Usually the dynamic is services are asking to recover some forces.
03:13They have readiness concerns, modernization concerns.
03:16So those discussions continue right now.
03:22I think it would be a grave mistake to pull forces out of Europe right now.
03:25I mean, this is the time to deter Russia.
03:28And I think withdrawing forces is a sign of weakness and it lowers our deterrence.
03:33One more follow-up question with you, Dracovoli.
03:35While I agree with the administration that focusing on China as their top threat is essential,
03:39I worry that we must not take our eye off of Russia and Europe.
03:42I believe adamantly that Putin will take any sign of U.S. weakness in Europe as a chance to continue his campaign of aggression in former Soviet territories.
03:50What is the overall U.S. military posture in Europe going forward?
03:54The overall posture for the U.S. military will be to accomplish the objectives that we talked about a few minutes ago in my opening statement
04:07and in some of my responses to questions there.
04:10First and foremost, to defend the United States of America forward.
04:14Second, to arrange for and to support U.S. operations and other combatant commands and throughout Europe.
04:22And then, of course, to fight and deter, as part of NATO, to deter Russia.
04:28So, we participate in NATO's deterrence strategy. We're a vital part of that.
04:34I expect that to continue going forward.
04:36Could you, in my last remaining seconds, just talk about the importance of the Baltic states?
04:39I'm the Baltic Security Caucus Chairman and they're right on the front lines.
04:44Yeah, they are right on the front lines.
04:46They are absolutely one of the places that the Russian Federation has focused their attention on.
04:54Their preliminary attention, setting up a narrative of disputed territories and things like that.
05:01Passport diplomacy with Russian language people.
05:05Subversion campaigns and sabotage campaigns.
05:09All of those things.
05:10So, they are certainly on the front line.
05:14They know it.
05:15They respond.
05:16They all spend over 2%.
05:18Estonia is over 3%.
05:20They've all devoted a huge fraction of their national power.
05:24Gentleman's time is expired.
05:25Gentleman's time is expired.