seats at the table
Biden convenes National Security Council to discuss Ukraine crisis
President Biden called for a rare Sunday meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the situation on the Ukrainian border, Barron's reports.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Face the Nation that the meeting would provide "an opportunity to review the latest information, the latest intelligence, to check signals, to check plans."
According to NBC News, the meeting was originally set to take place in the Situation Room on Sunday morning, with Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris, who were flying back from the Munich Security Conference, participating remotely from Air Force Two. On Face the Nation, Blinken did not correct host Margaret Brennan when she referred to the meeting in the future tense. He also said he "just came back from Munich" with Harris, not that he was on his way back.
As of press time, it appears the meeting has not yet taken place.
Current estimates place the number of Russian troops positioned along Ukraine's border at up to 190,000, and Russian state media has stepped up its claims that a Ukrainian offensive against Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine is imminent.
Some 30,000 Russian troops conducting joint exercises in neighboring Belarus were originally scheduled to begin returning to Russia on Sunday, but Belarusian Defense Minister Gen. Viktor Khrenin said Russian forces would remain due to the "escalation of the situation" in eastern Ukraine, The Guardian reported.