Transcript of Retired Lt. general explains why Putin is not in a good place right now

Putin ally, tonight under assault. At this hour, the second biggest city in Syria is now in the hands of rebels for the first time since the war began a decade ago. As its dictator, Putin's close ally, Bachar al-Assad, backed by Russian forces, is clinging to power. The situation there is changing by the hour. The rebels surprising both Putin and Sad, storming Aleppo, toppling statues of Sad's family. Overnight, Putin's Air Force, reportedly carrying out strikes in Syria in response. The crisis in Syria for Putin tonight, coming as another one of his allies, is in serious trouble. Let me just show you the images out of Georgia tonight. Protesters furious after Georgia's Putin-supported government decided to whose phone talks to join the EU. It has led to mayhem and protests on the streets. That move, of course, by the government, one that Putin was celebrating and supporting. But the overwhelming uprising that we are witnessing in these past days, these images you see on the streets of Georgia are adding to a perilous moment for Putin, who today approved a budget spending a third of Russia's entire national budget on the military. In fact, increasing the size of his standing military for only the third time since Putin invaded Ukraine.

Something that appears to be a sign that whatever peace deal is eventually negotiated, Putin's goals remain unchanged. And tonight, a Russian oligarch close to Putin telling Max Sedin at the Financial Times that Putin will reject Trump's peace plan, the first one that Trump's floated there. He said, Then, the world is on the brink of nuclear war. That oligarch saying that, also adding a specific warning to Trump, saying that if Trump does not stop US backing for Ukraine, there will be a radiation zone nobody will ever go into in our lifetime, and the war will be over. Threatening Trump with nuclear war if he doesn't stop supporting Ukraine, something that Putin's state media is betting Trump will do, thanks to his cabinet choices so far. According to journalist Julia Davis, the host of one popular Russian state television program, saying overnight, What an excellent team is coming along with Trump, not with respect to Ukraine, but as far as everything else goes, if they're allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America brick by brick. They are so great. Let's go now to General Martin Hurtling, along with Seth Jones, national security expert who, of course, have been on the ground in Syria, as well as the other places we're talking about here.

General, right now, you're looking at a crucial moment for Vladimir Putin, and it comes as the Financial Times is reporting that oligarch in his inner circle is outright rejecting even Trump's offer for a peace deal. You hear what's happening in Georgia, what's happening in Syria, as Putin is trying to send this massive increase in his armed forces. How crucial is this moment?

We have to put it in perspective. You just named some of the things, Erin, but Russia's military is in disarray. They are spread across a a bunch of continents, not just Syria and Ukraine. Their economy is in freefall, as Fred just mentioned. They face some threats on several fronts and decreased assistance from a bunch of allies that are having problems themselves. So We're seeing as calm as Putin and as his spokesmen may appear to be, they don't have reason to feel very good about what's going on. They're facing dynamics on every single one of their fronts, which could cause increasing problems. Putin is not in a good place right now. I hope that based on our approach toward the Ukrainian war, we take advantage of that.

Well, Seth, that's the crucial question. The Russian oligarch who threatened that nuclear weapon that no one would go in in our lifetimes in that zone again, and the war would be over. He also added, after rejecting what they say is Trump's potential peace deal, that Zelensky needed to be removed from power, that Trump needed to do that if Trump wanted to end the war. I'm just curious, Seth, what you think about that. In the context of what we heard from Joe Rogan, who obviously supported Trump for President, Joe Rogan implied that he turned down an interview with Zelensky, where, of course, Zelensky would have come on his show to make his case about the war. Seth, do you think that that's an actual question out there, that Trump would try to remove Zelenskyy from power?

Well, Erin, I was in Ukraine somewhat recently. I don't think there's any indication that the Ukrainians want Zelenskyy to step down. I don't think there's any interest from Zelenski to step down. I think this is really the challenge right now that the incoming Trump administration has. There is a huge gap right now between the Ukrainians and the Russians on what they're actually willing to negotiate. The Russians want a weak Ukraine right now. They certainly don't want it as a member of NATO, and I'm sure they want Zelenski to step down. The Ukrainians want the opposite. Which is they want to build up their conventional weapons. They want to be a member of NATO, and they want to keep a strong government led by Zelenskyy in. This is why it's going to be difficult, I think, to get a ceasefire negotiation in place.

I should point out the Biden administration tonight signing a $775 million additional supplemental package for Ukraine. Obviously, in the scheme of the money that's gone in, it's de minimis, but it's still important. It's a signal they want to get in as much as they can. Prior to a change in administration, Registrations. General, I am curious about the impact here of what is happening in Syria. As you point out, Putin's Air Force, who is crucial inAssad maintaining power. But now Aleppo has fallen for the first time since the Civil War began. A war where Basher al-Assad had been out on public stage at international meetings, back, I don't want to say business as usual, but this seemed to stun not just Putin, but Asaad. How much of this do you think stems from Putin being over extended.

I think all of it does, Erin. And one of the things we have to mention is we're watching the attacks in Aleppo and Hamas and seeing the tactical action on the ground. We also have to remember that Vladimir Putin loves Syria, and he only loves it for one reason. He has a major naval base at Tartuffe. He has a major Air Force base at a place called Khomenein, and both of those bases give him access to the Mediterranean. Once he loses that because of a potential overthrow of assad, he has lost his capability to influence in the Med. He has somewhat lost his influence to influence in the Black Sea based on the war with Ukraine. And his naval bases in the Baltics at Kaliningrad are also threatened. So you're seeing Putin really being tossed into a corner. These bases are all critical for their military presence in these areas. And increased rebel activity in Northern Syria and Turkish and the Turkish incursions have heightened concerns about the Russian supply routes even into the area.Assad is saying Russia is bombing in the area and they're helping counter the rebels. Yeah, they're not bombing with much because they don't have much to bomb with.

They've lost a lot of aircraft in Ukraine. And like I said a minute ago, they're in very bad states. And giving anything, and I just comment on your statement about the Russian Ministry saying that they wanted Zalinsky Zelenskyy removed. That's been the objective of Putin since day one in February of '22, to get Putin, or excuse me, to get Zelenskyy and his government out of Ukraine. So they would meet their strategic objective if they could do that.

And Seth, Putin signing the military budget, a third of the budget going to the military, increasing troops for just the third time since the war began. Obviously, they've had hundreds of thousands, maybe nearly a million of wounded or killed in action. The currency hitting the lowest level that it has since the war, since the invasion Ukraine. How much disarray is there in the Russian military? What's the truth as you can see it, Seth?

Well, look, I think the Russian military is trying to push forward in the area of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine. But the reality is that the Russians have suffered extraordinary casualties and still are on the front lines. They have not been able to effectively take baths the Kursk area of Russia that Ukrainians now control. As we've talked about, Erin, the have suffered about four to five times more casualties than in all wars since World War II combined. That's both the Soviet Union and Russia itself. Now to have to deal with Syria right now and Hayat Al-Shom, with really no effective ground force because Hezbollah is not going to play a role. They did in Aleppo when the Syrians took it. The Iranians had a major ground presence as well. Khassam Sulmani, the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard's Kudzforce, actually was in the Joint Operations Center. The Russians are in serious trouble right now on multiple fronts, and I think their military is suffering badly because of it.

Of course, the crucial question will be, what will the Trump administration do? Do they see it as an opportunity in which way? Thank you both so very much.