Biden-NATO talks will center energy, broader sanctions against Russia: WH economic adviser

National Economic Council Director Brian Deese sits down with Yahoo Finance Live to talk about the impact of U.S. sanctions on Russia, economic pressures against Russian President Putin and the Russian central banking system, American companies strengthening cybersecurity, Russian oligarchs, and companies still doing business in Russia.

Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: Switching gears here, everyone, we teased it before the break. President Biden set to travel to Europe as NATO leaders will convene in Brussels, Belgium on March 24 to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, existing sanctions levied against Russia, and next steps from the NATO member countries. Joining us now, we've got Brian Deese, who is the National Economic Council director. Brian, thanks so much for taking the time here with us today.

The agenda, it includes the March 24 meeting, and then additionally, a European Council meeting. Is there additional supports that the president is anticipating EU nations are going to request in some of their discussions amid their own energy and inflationary pressures that they, too, are seeing stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

BRIAN DEESE: Well, we anticipated a number of issues will be on the agenda. The first is around the coordinated sanctions and other economic tools that we have used collectively to try to impose pain on President Putin and the Russian economy. That effort has gone very well so far, better than anticipated. I think we've surprised markets and President Putin in terms of the resolve of our allies and partners.

And so we will be discussing those issues and adding new sanctions to the overall effort to make sure that the intended goal of imposing maximum pain is actually continuing as we need to sustain this effort. At the same time, we'll be talking about measures that we can take collectively to support European energy security and European economic relief, as well as making sure that we're doing everything we can to help American consumers and the American economy through this effort.

And so one of the big topics will be around energy security and the steps that we can take together between the United States and Europe, to not only secure more reliable energy supplies, but also reduce energy demand, which ultimately is a big part of how we increase our energy independence, both for our European allies and for us here at home.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: So then, to that point then, what were the most important considerations being weighed in crafting these sanctions, especially since you do, then, have to keep an eye on possible retaliatory sanctions or actions from Russia and things like cyber attacks?

BRIAN DEESE: Well, the principles from day one have been clear. We need to target the core sources of President Putin's economic strength and do so in a way that minimizes the damage to our economy and to our allies and partners. That's why you've seen the core of our efforts focused on not only sanctions to the Russian financial sector, but to the central bank and to keep President Putin from being able to deploy what has been referred to as his war chest, the $630 billion in Reserve, to help counter the freefall that we've seen in the ruble and in Russian real economic activity. That's number one.

And then the second is to target sectors of the economy that, over the long-term, give President Putin economic strength. Obviously, oil and gas and the energy industry is at the center of that, but also aerospace and defense, other areas that are traditionally areas of Russian economic strength. We have targeted those with export controls so that he cannot access the inputs to try to keep those sectors going.

That's been the strategy. It requires a lot of coordination. And frankly, it's going to require stability and new measures to ensure that he is not able to evade or find workarounds to those core sanctions. So that will be what will be on the agenda we talked about at the leaders level in Europe.

BRAD SMITH: Just a follow-up, though, on the cybersecurity front, the White House warned US companies this week that Vladimir Putin might be readying cyber attacks on the US. Have you been involved in outreach to companies and what's the response been so far? How are new measures being put in place?

BRIAN DEESE: We had a good meeting yesterday with CEOs from industries-- leading industries across the economy, here at the White House with the president. And the president delivered a very clear message, which is, every company needs to be hardening its cyber defenses, upping its game and doing everything that it can to protect its critical infrastructure at this moment. We know that the Russians have cyber capabilities, and we know that they have indicated a willingness to use them in retaliation. And we know that a lot of critical infrastructure in the United States is owned and operated by private companies.

So that message was clear. And I think it was well received in part because we've been working with the private sector for months now, not only of the threat that Russia imposes, but globally, how to harden our cyber defenses. We made some important investments on the public side there. A lot of this is, though, in the hands of private companies, and they need to take actions. And they are. They're taking this very seriously. The exchange was very frank and very pragmatic. We have an entire network of experts at the federal level to work with private actors in different industries. So all of us are operating at a-- on a state of high alert.

DAVE BRIGGS: Brian, a quick two-parter, if you don't mind. First, Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich. A lot of attention today on him, his $50 million prized piece of real estate in Aspen, Colorado, which is in his name. Why have we not joined our allies, the UK and Canada, in sanctioning Abramovich? And on the US side, Koch Industries, the second largest private employer company in the United States, remains doing all their business in Russia. What is your message to them?

BRIAN DEESE: Well, on the first issue, I can say we have identified a broad set of oligarchs. And we are looking actively at expanding that list. And so you can certainly anticipate that when the president heads to Europe and talks about additional sanctions measures, that will be one of the topics on the agenda, how to broaden these sanctions, including broadening to oligarchs, broadening to other financial institutions as well.

And with respect to companies and company decisions, what I would say is this, which is, every company is going to make its own independent decisions. We're not directing companies to take action. But what you have seen overwhelmingly is a response from the American private sector that reflects the response from the American people, which is outrage at the horrific acts that are happening in Ukraine and a resolve to try to do everything that we collectively can as citizens, citizens of the world, and as the most powerful economy in the world to try to show common cause that President Putin will pay a price for these actions.

And so that means different things for different companies. But in the main, what we are saying and what we said yesterday to the companies that were here, was to acknowledge and thank those companies that have taken actions, difficult decisions, in many respects, and to underscore that given the response from-- broadly, from the private sector, that is helping to actually reinforce the resolve of the sanctions that we're taking at the country level.