Fred Fleitz to Newsmax: U.S. Won't Stop Putin If He Invades Ukraine

If Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to invade Ukraine, as is appearing to be more likely every day, the United States isn't going to stop him, Fred Fleitz, the vice chairman of the America First Policy Institute and the former chief of staff for the National Security Council, told Newsmax Saturday.

"We don't want to get into war with Russia because we don't want to get our country [into] more unnecessary wars," Fleitz said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "We don't want the people of Ukraine to be conquered by Putin, but it is not in the United States' strategic interest."

Fleitz said that in his organization it is an important concept that military force is used "wisely and carefully," and the United States will not want to get into a war with Russia, which has the largest nuclear arsenal on earth.

"We need to use diplomacy and sanctions, and moral pressure, but at the end of the day, if this dictator decides to invade Ukraine, we're not going to stop him," said Fleitz.

Meanwhile, Fleitz acknowledged that a few days ago he thought Putin was bluffing, but he doesn't think that anymore after observing how Russia's troop deployment is accelerating and how Russia snubbed and ridiculed French and British officials in Moscow this past week.

"It seems to me Putin is done talking," said Fleitz. "He doesn't want concessions. He's not interested in dialogue. He doesn't care about sanctions. He's decided to move into Ukraine.

"I don't know if the Biden administration understood whether this is coming or not, but I think over the last few days they did. I don't think there's intelligence indicating this. I think it is simply a logical conclusion based on what we're seeing."

President Joe Biden and Putin are scheduled to speak Saturday, but "Putin has already indicated he's not interested in dialogue," said Fleitz. "He has a very low regard for Joe Biden. He and his officials have mocked Biden as being incompetent, too old on many occasions."

Putin does realize he needs to maintain some kind of relationship with the United States, Fleitz added, but the former CIA analyst said he does not think Biden's powers of persuasion will have any effect on the Russian leader.

However, Putin does know that if he were to launch an attack on one of the NATO member countries, the United States will need to defend them, under the obligation to the treaty.

"The real question should be: 'How did we get here?'" said Fleitz. "We got here through a year of appeasing Putin, through the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle, through Biden's weakness on so many questions and unserious foreign policy. I think this invasion is maybe already baked in the cake. We can't reverse it."

Fleitz also pointed out a story in The Washington Post detailing TikTok videos showing hundreds of Russian tanks on the roads heading to Ukraine.

"Tanks are transported during peacetime on trucks and trained; now I know this is a video on a train. There's video of them driving if they're driving somewhere. That's an extraordinary indication. That they're about to be deployed in a military operation," said Fleitz.

Meanwhile, Germany has not been with the United States on the issue of an invasion of Ukraine, he added.

"The Germans are dependent on Russian energy, especially natural gas because they've shut down the nuclear plant to shut down their oil-fired electricity plants," said Fleitz.

"They cannot afford to cut relations with Russia. They've looked for exemptions from sanctions, and it was very clear that the German chancellor will not agree to turn off that pipeline, even if Russia invaded Ukraine."

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