CSIS International Security Program Senior Adviser Mark Cancian joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the global response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis and President Biden's new sanctions against Russia.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Ukraine has now declared a 30-day state of emergency and mobilized its military, as Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no signs of backing down. Putin saying today that he remains open for direct and honest dialogue, but that, in his words, the interests of Russia and the security of our citizens are unconditional.

The White House has called the Kremlin's actions the beginning of an invasion, imposing tough economic consequences, blocking sanctions on two Russian banks, sanctions on sovereign debt and Russian oligarchs. The president making clear that Putin is attempting to redraw Russia's borders in Europe. Take a listen.

JOE BIDEN: If Russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further as with sanctions. Who in the Lord's name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belong to his neighbors? This is a flagrant violation of international law and demands a firm response from the international community.

AKIKO FUJITA: Australia, Canada, and Japan just the latest now to-- the latest countries to impose sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, in China, Beijing has now weighed in on growing pressure against Russia, saying the growing list of sanctions is unlikely to solve the Ukraine crisis.

Let's get into all of this with our first guest for the hour. We've got Mark Cancian. He is CSIS senior advisor, International Security Program. It is great to have you on today to try and break all of this down for us. First question, on the sanctions that were introduced by the White House yesterday, how effective do you think this will be in discouraging President Putin from moving in even further into Ukraine?

MARK CANCIAN: Well, unfortunately, they don't seem to have been very effective. I mean, they were a very sensible step to take and will bite a bit on the Russian economy. But the Russians have spent a lot of time trying to insulate their economy from the West, expecting these kinds of responses. And Putin knew that these were going to be coming. He took his move anyway. So it's unlikely that they will deter him.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Hey, Mark, it's Brian Cheung here. I wanted to ask about kind of just what we should expect from the United States going forward, because the explanation of the measures that we got announced yesterday, which we're detailing on the screen right now, suggests that there are other things that the White House can do, like, for example, banning Russia from Swift, the telecom service that essentially allows Russia to get plugged into the international financial system. Do you think that the White House is trying to back pocket that to further escalate these sanctions if Russia moves forward with this?

MARK CANCIAN: Absolutely, they did not want to roll out all of their weapons, economic weapons at once. They wanted to hold something back because the Russians may well make another military move either in the east or even against Kiev. So they have a number of additional actions they could take. Of course, one of them is freezing the Russians out of the international banking system. There are also sanctions against particular banks and individuals that they could take.

AKIKO FUJITA: With that said, you know, we've heard of Russia's essentially rainy day fund, that they have been basically creating this cushion in anticipation of sanctions escalating. What's your sense of how long it would likely take until Russia really starts to feel the pain from these sanctions?

MARK CANCIAN: It's hard to say. I mean, they've been operating under some sanctions for quite a while. And they have a large what you call rainy day fund. There are some things that they may have a difficult time buying, like semiconductors, and that could start to bite on their economy.

But the Russians seem to be inclined to just tough it out. Certainly, that's going to be Putin's attitude. He's going to hope that with time, he'll be able to either get around the sanctions or that the sanctions will be lifted. There's also Nord Stream 2, which the Germans have paused. I think Putin's betting that eventually, the Germans are going to have to open it up, given their energy needs.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Mark, a lot of fixation on the US sanctions on Russia and also the other Western countries' sanctions on Russia, but what about Ukraine itself? What can the United States do to support Ukraine if these issues do escalate in terms of maybe military equipment or even sending US troops in? Do you see the United States wanting to get more involved on either of those fronts?

MARK CANCIAN: Well, I can certainly see the United States providing more military equipment. In fact, there's more of that in the pipeline and a bill before Congress to increase that support. The support's been going on for a number of years. And we've been giving them a wide variety of equipment, mostly equipment that's easy to use, not large weapons systems like tanks or Patriot anti-aircraft missiles. Those take a long time to assimilate, but easy to use systems like Stinger missiles and Javelin missiles, which people have heard about.

There's absolutely no way that the United States is going to send troops into Ukraine. We've been sending a lot of troops to Eastern Europe, but those are being sent to reassure our Eastern European allies. All of them are terrified about what the Russians might do. There's a long history of Russian invasion and interference in their affairs. So the Poles, the Romanians, the Bulgarians want some assurance that in a crisis, the United States and NATO will be there. And we're providing that assurance.

The latest set of reinforcements of troops are going to the Baltic countries, which are not threatened in this crisis, but are very exposed and are members of NATO. So they go up there to reassure those countries that NATO will support them. But in terms of the United States, sending troops to Ukraine, as I said, there's no chance. The president has been absolutely emphatic that we are there to support NATO, not send troops into Ukraine.

And also, you know, it's a very different situation from 2003. There is no war party in Congress. I don't think there's been a single member of Congress who has suggested that the United States send troops. So there's really no support either politically or popularly for a US engagement against the Russians.

AKIKO FUJITA: We've seen that-- we've seen Ukraine now declare a state of emergency, trying to mobilize military reservists as well. In terms of the readiness for the military there, what's your assessment?

MARK CANCIAN: Well, I'd give two answers. I mean, the first is that the Ukrainians have been fighting the Russians for eight years. So they're a much better military than they were in 2014 when the Russians first moved into the Donbass and supported the separatists there. On the other hand, it's a bit late to be mobilizing your reservists. The Ukrainians took the attitude that they didn't want to be provocative or disturb their population. So for a long time, they were downplaying the threat. What they're doing is very sensible, and they probably should have done this a couple of weeks ago.