An excerpt:
Clemons: So you’re sort of like this psychological, political, geostrategic therapist?
Biden: Well in a bizarre sense, every successful foreign-policy person from [Henry] Kissinger on, that’s what they’ve been. I don’t go in and make demands. For example, [Ukraine President] Poroshenko, I pushed him on getting rid of a corrupt [prosecutor] general. We had committed a billion dollars, I said, “Petro, you’re not getting your billion dollars. It’s OK, you can keep the [prosecutor] general. Just understand -- we’re not paying if you do.” I suspended it on the spot, to the point where our ambassador looked at me like, “Whoa, what’d you just do? Do you have the authority?” “Yeah, I got the authority. It’s not going to happen, Petro.” But I really mean it. It wasn’t a threat. I said, “Look, Petro, I understand. We’re not gonna play. It’ll hurt us the following way, so make your own call here.” The same with Erdogan.
Russian Officials Shrug Off Impact Of New U.S. Sanctions Over Ukraine
Russian officials mostly shrugged off the impact of a new round of sanctions announced by the United States on September 1 targeting 37 individuals and companies involved in Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
Companies helping to construct a bridge to Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, were among the biggest new targets, but the officials said they don't expect any impact from the sanctions.
"The sanctions will not affect the construction of the bridge," said the project's Crimea Bridge infocenter, which noted that the bridge is being built without Western help.
"The contractor has all the resources necessary for the timely completion of the project," it said.
Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Aleksei Likhachev told TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok that the economic loss from the sanctions would be "minimal," although he said Russia "regrets" the "hostile spirit" shown by the sanctions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the sanctions a "dead-end track" that fails to solve any problems. He suggested that Russia will respond in kind after analyzing them.
"Generally, the principle of reciprocity is used in such cases," he said.
Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Interfax
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow morning, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
The separatist entity in Donetsk has opened a "consulate" in the Czech Republic. RFE/RL's Tony Wesolowsky was there to see it. (Video courtesy of Ray Furlong):
Donetsk Separatists Fly Flag At Czech Center That Prague Vows To Close
OSTRAVA, Czech Republic -- The flag of Russia-backed separatists from Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region fluttered from an ornate, two-story building in this otherwise gritty city on the Czech Republic's eastern fringes on September 1, as the separatists opened what they call their first official office on EU soil.
Amid protests and vows by authorities to shut down the center, a Czech far-right activist said the office is aimed at rebuilding ties between Ostrava and Donetsk, both crumbling industrial centers that were once sister cities.
"We want to aid and coordinate communication between the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Czech Republic," said Nela Liskova, a member of the xenophobic National Militia movement, referring to the separatist group in eastern Ukraine.
Liskova addressed a cramped conference room packed with a few dozen reporters and a handful of supporters -- including a few allegedly from Donetsk. A self-described "honorary consul," she said she is disgusted with her government's support for what she calls the "junta" in Kyiv -- standard Kremlin shorthand for the pro-Western government of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Putting down stakes in the EU would be a feat for the separatists, who have fought Kyiv's forces in a bloody war that has killed more than 9,500 people since April 2014 following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula the previous month.
Until now they have been recognized as an independent state only by South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia that itself is recognized only by Moscow and a handful of other countries.
But any kind of recognition by the EU is wishful thinking at best. Brussels has sanctioned several separatists in eastern Ukraine, including Oleksandr Zakharchenko, the self-styled leader in Donetsk, as well as officials in Moscow over Russian backing for the separatists.
In the Czech Republic, President Milos Zeman has departed from the common EU line on Ukraine and criticized sanctions against Moscow. But he has not offered the separatists in eastern Ukraine any public support.
Meanwhile, Prague has repeatedly said that the separatists lack any legitimacy to open a diplomatic post in the country, while the Czech Foreign Ministry vowed on September 1 that their self-declared representative office would be shut down.
The Czech Embassy in Kyiv said in an August 29 statement that "the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic cannot have an accredited representative office in the Czech Republic because the Czech Republic does not recognize its existence."
According to official documents, the organization behind the center was officially registered on June 16, 2016.
The opening of its office was met with a small public protest outside Ostrava's Mercure Hotel, where the press conference for the event was being held. Some 15 demonstrators held up placards reading "Stop Russian Aggression," and "Kremlin Theater."
"I'm upset that they are opening up an office for a group that the Czech Republic, including the Foreign Ministry, does not recognize as legitimate, and is a terrorist state," said Radovan Blaha, who traveled from Prague to attend the protest.
Mikhail Topolov, a Czech-based Ukrainian activist, said that "the pro-Russian terrorists should not have any representation in the Czech Republic."
You can read the rest of Tony's report here.
More on the U.S. expanding sanctions: