Former Defense Secretary William Cohen said on Friday that he’s “very skeptical” diplomacy will succeed as Russia is poised to invade Ukraine.
On CNN’s At this Hour with Kate Bolduan, Bolduan asked Cohen about Secretary of State Antony Blinken describing his discussion with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as “frank and substantive.”
“Where do you think this crisis is in this moment,” asked Bolduan.
Cohen responded:
Well, I’m skeptical on what Mr. Lavrov says. I’ve watched him and met him on occasion over the last 20 years, and I would be very skeptical in terms of his assurances that they don’t intend attack. It’s as if — you know, the West seems to think that [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin is some Hamlet-like character who’s psychologically inflicted, should I or shouldn’t I. I don’t believe that at all.President Bush 43 said he looked into the eyes of Putin and saw his soul. President Biden has said I’ve looked into the eyes a cold-eyed killer. Putin knows exactly what he wants to do, and he would not put 100,000-plus, perhaps even more today, troops on the border and say “Oh, you’re threatening me with sanctions, I guess I better pull my troops back and put them into the garrisons.”He’s going to get something out of this that satisfies him that he’s made his point that Ukraine
can never become truly independent, cannot become a member of NATO, and cannot have any kind of offensive arms within its country. So I think that the chances that diplomacy will succeed, I hope they do. I’m very skeptical they will because I think that Putin has made it clear that he’s moved first and now he’s put the burden on us to respond in writing to demands that we can’t meet.
Watch above, via CNN.