ABC "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" - Transcript: Situation in Ukraine
Interview
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STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, Bianna Golodryga, thanks very much.
With that, let's bring in Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He just got off a plane from Ukraine.
Senator, thank you for joining us this morning.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: Thank you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You were there all day yesterday.
The mood?
MURPHY: Yes.
Well, the mood is tense. Uh, clearly, they were watching events in Crimea, this sham referendum isn't fooling anyone. You see additional troops being mustered by the Russians on the eastern border.
But the Ukrainians that we talked to, both government officials and folks who were really the people who drove the Maidan movement in Kiev are clear, the Ukrainians are not going to go down without a fight, that if Russia really does decide to move beyond Crimea, it is going to be bloody and the fight may be long.
And they need help from the United States...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, that's what I...
MURPHY: -- and I think they'll be very glad to hear that from us.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to get that to you.
MURPHY: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I mean is the United States prepared to send military aid to the Ukraine?
I know there's an economic aid package that's gotten bogged down in some internal politics in the Senate.
Is military aid on the table?
MURPHY: Well, I think as soon as we get back to Washington, you'll see the Senate and the House pass an economic aid package, along with sanctions. Um, I think there are a lot of ways that we can assist in the resistance. I'm not sure that we're to the point of providing arms, but they need all sorts of non-lethal assistance, like MREs, that we can put on the ground.
And then I think it is appropriate to work with the Ukrainians on a longer-term effort to try to rebuild their military, which had been gutted by President Yanukovych over the past three or four years.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You mentioned that if the Russians move further into Eastern Ukraine, it could be bloody, that the Ukrainians are prepared, uh, to fight.
But we're having this vote in the Crimea today. I think everyone has a good idea of where it's going to go. One way or another, the Crimeans are going to vote to be closer, uh, to Russia.
Is that a fait accompli?
Is there anything that can be done to reverse that right now?
MURPHY: Well, I do think there's anything that can be done to reverse the vote. I mean I'd be surprised if it's not 70, 80, 90 percent given the fact that the Russians have shut down all of the Ukrainian media inside of the region.
But I don't think that Putin's ambition is Crimea here. Ultimately, his ambition is to try to keep control of the entirety of Ukraine. If he controls Crimea and loses the rest of Ukraine, which is 95 percent of the population, that's a loss for Russia's world power and prestige.
So I think he may stop after this rendem -- referendum and try to negotiate something with Ukraine that would pull them away from the European Union. But in every single meeting that we did while we were on the ground in the last few days, there is no appetite from the new Ukrainian government to do a deal with Russia that forestalls their plan to join the European Union.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The question is, then, though, if -- if -- if Putin moves further into the Eastern Ukraine, is there anything the U.S. and the rest of the West can really do to prevent that?
MURPHY: Well, I don't think there's anything that we can do militarily. Clearly, this is a longer-term effort to build up the Ukrainian military. But if on Monday, we announce, with the European Union, a set of crippling sanctions coming after not only individuals, but Russian business entities, I think that sends a strong message to Putin.
I think he marched into Crimea because he didn't believe that the United States and Europe would actually take a chunk of flesh out of his economy. And if we stand together on Monday, that gives us a chance, at least, to change the calculus in Moscow.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You think these sanctions can bite deep enough?
MURPHY: Well, I mean, we have to wait for our European friends to tell us if they're willing to move forward. I mean there's no doubt that if you, uh, cut off Russian gas to Europe, it will hurt. There's no doubt that if you freeze Russian assets in places like Germany and Great Britain, it will hurt them.
But this is a threat to the territorial integrity of Europe.
Who knows who's next?
It was laughable five years ago to think that Russia would march on Ukraine. Five years from now, it may be a NATO company -- uh, country that's in jeopardy.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator, thanks very much for your time this morning.
MURPHY: Thanks.
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