Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to step down

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama announced Monday that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will step down from his position as soon as the Senate confirms a successor. Hagel, who has served as Defense secretary since February 2013, was forced out by President Barack Obama, CNN confirmed from several sources. During his remarks from the White House, however, Obama praised Hagel as an "exemplary" Defense secretary, calling him critical to a number of national security accomplishments during his tenure, and characterized Hagel's resignation as his own choice. "If there's one thing I know about Chuck it is that he does not make this or any decision lightly," Obama said from the State Dining Room. "This decision does not come easily to him." However, Arizona Sen. John McCain, the expected incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said on local Arizona radio station KFYI 550's "The Mike Broomhead Show" that he spoke with Hagel last week and the Defense secretary was "frustrated." "They're gonna say well it was time for a change and all that...but I can tell you he was in my office last week, he was very frustrated," McCain said, with a lack of strategy to combat ISIS, help the Ukranians and what McCain called "a lack of U.S. influence...unknown in history." McCain said, despite the fact "White House people are leaking, 'Well, he wasn't up to the job,' believe me, he was up to the job" — and that the real issue was the White House itself. "It was the job that he was given where he really was never really brought into that real tight circle inside the White House that makes all the decisions," he said. Behind the scenes, administration officials told CNN there were a series of discussions over the past several weeks with the President, initiated by Hagel. The talks covered a "broader discussion of national security for the next two years," a defense official said. Defense Secretary Hagel to step down White House: Secy. Hagel to resign Sources: Secy. Hagel pushed out The two came to realize that "a different focus was needed and a change is in order," the official added. "It is wrong to conclude that this was a protest by Hagel or it was over policy differences." The New York Times first reported Monday morning that Obama asked Hagel to step down last Friday, seeking to reassure critics of the President's foreign policy with the move. The move, White House officials told the Times, was meant to acknowledge that the new national security threats facing the nation — most notably the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — call for a different kind of leadership in the Defense Department. "The next couple of years will demand a different kind of focus," an administration official told the paper. Obama did not announce a successor Monday. According to a White House aide, the list to replace Hagel includes former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, a former paratrooper, was initially in the mix, but his spokesman said in a statement that he's not interested in the job. "Senator Reed loves his job and wants to continue serving the people of Rhode Island in the United States Senate. He has made it very clear that he does not wish to be considered for Secretary of Defense or any other cabinet position," spokesman Chip Unruh said. But it's highly unlikely that the confirmation process for Hagel's replacement will occur before next year when the Republican-led Senate convenes, Senate leadership aides from both parties tell CNN. A GOP aide said it would be "logistically impossible" to complete it in the two weeks senators expect to be in session in December before leaving for the holidays. A Democratic aide said that while Democrats are "open" to considering the nomination when they return to session next week, doing so would require consent from Republicans. "It's not impossible for this year but would require a nominee before we come back Monday and complete cooperation from Republican leadership, committee members and rank and file," the Democratic aide said. The move, White House officials told the Times, was meant to acknowledge that the new national security threats facing the nation — most notably the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — call for a different kind of leadership in the Defense Department. "The next couple of years will demand a different kind of focus," an administration official told the paper. At the White House press conference, Hagel thanked the President and his colleagues, pledged to work "just as hard as I have over the last couple years" until his successor is confirmed. And he evaluated his tenure at the Pentagon as a success. "I believe we have set not only this department, the department of Defense, but the nation on a stronger course towards security, stability and prosperity. If I didn't believe that I would not have done this job," he said. A critic of the Iraq war, Hagel was brought on to oversee withdrawal from Afghanistan and a smaller Pentagon budget than ever before. Hagel, a former senator of Nebraska, was the last Republican still serving in Obama's Cabinet and was a Vietnam combat veteran. Hagel's tenure was rocky before it even began. During his confirmation hearings, Hagel drew sharp criticism from pro-Israel Republicans concerned with his opposition to aggressive sanctions against Iran and for his criticism of the Defense Department as "bloated." His confirmation was filibustered before he ultimately won approval. And his two years at the Pentagon have been marred by gaffes that occasionally undercut the President and an inability to sell the administration's national security policy. He at one point called ISIS an "imminent threat to every interest we have," contradicting the President's comments just months before that the group was simply "junior varsity." The administration has taken persistent criticism over the past few months as a series of national security crises roiled the nation, and the President's response was seen by many as flat-footed and inconsistent. Hagel's departure has been rumored to be coming for weeks, and as recently as last week he dodged questions about his continued tenure at the Pentagon. "First of all, I serve at the pleasure of the President," Hagel told PBS, asked whether he'd continue in the position. "I'm immensely grateful for the opportunity I've had the last two years to work every day for the country and for the men and women who serve this country. I don't get up in the morning and worry about my job. It's not unusual by the way, to change teams at different times." Pressed on whether he felt he still had Obama's confidence, Hagel said, "Well, I don't think I would be here if I didn't. But you'd have to ask him that. I mean I see him all the time."

Why Vladimir Putin thinks it's still 1985

Moscow (CNN) -- The first frosts of winter have already dusted the spectacular city of St. Petersburg with a powder of glistening ice. The air outside feels sharp and crisp. Russians hurry along the elegant boulevards, wrapped up tight against the biting cold. Russia's winter, its annual deep freeze, has begun. But this year there's more than just a bitter chill in the air. For the past nine months relations with the West have become decidedly frosty too. On the face of it the problem is Ukraine. The West backed a popular uprising there in March, which toppled a Kremlin-friendly government. Infuriated, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, annexed the strategic Crimean Peninsula, where it has a key naval base. Since then he has been accused of fuelling a separatist rebellion in the mainly Russian-speaking east of the country. That unrest has already cost more than 4,000 lives. The United States and Europe have imposed costly sanctions and travel bans. It threatens more. On the international stage, Russia has been excluded from the G8 group of industrialized nations. At the recent G20 summit in Brisbane, President Putin was cold-shouldered by his Western counterparts. But the Russian leader appears unmoved, his Ukraine policy unchanged. One fascinating explanation for the failure of Western sanctions and rebukes to change this vast country's behavior may be in the mindset, the world view, of its strongman president. I'm one of the few Western journalists to have sat down with Vladimir Putin. I met him at his residence outside Sochi in 2008, just after Russia's invasion of Georgia. I asked him back then if he could guarantee that Russian troops would not invade other former Soviet states, like Ukraine. He reacted quite angrily, saying he objected to my question. It was Russians, he said, who should be given guarantees that no one attacks us. The comment sheds light, I think, on how Vladimir Putin sees the world outside the walls of the Kremlin. For him, Russia is under constant threat from the West. NATO expansion into former Eastern Bloc nations has eroded Russia's security. The prospect of Georgia joining the western military alliance, let alone Ukraine, is unthinkable for him. The Cold War, from this perspective, has never really ended; we're still living in the 1980s. The West, in particular the United States, still strives to "subjugate" Russia. President Putin repeated this just a few days ago in Moscow. Sanctions are an inevitable consequence of Russia's resistance to this subjugation. Ukraine was the motive, but if it had not been Ukraine it would likely have been something else. From a Western perspective, this seems like a cynical distortion of the facts, a Kremlin ploy to confuse and obfuscate. But it may help explain why Russia is doing what it is doing, and why sanctions are not changing -- and may never change -- Kremlin policy. It may also help to explain why, at a time of growing economic hardship, Russia's president remains so utterly popular at home. His world view is theirs too. Like the harsh cold of the coming Russian winter, confrontation with the West is inevitable and must be endured.

World leaders take Putin to task over Ukraine at G20 in Australia

(CNN) -- For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the G20 summit in Australia didn't prove to be a very amicable occasion. Putin has found himself on the receiving end of a series of sharp verbal jabs from some of his fellow world leaders. The reason? Russia's interference in Ukraine. One of the bluntest rebukes came from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "I guess I'll shake your hand," Harper told Putin on Saturday, according to aides of the Canadian leader. But he then quickly warned Putin, "You need to get out of Ukraine." U.S. President Barack Obama also voiced criticism of Moscow, saying in a speech that Russian aggression against Ukraine "is a threat to the world." Amid the strong words, the Russian government denied reports that Putin was going to leave the summit early. He departed on Sunday toward the end of the summit. He attended the final lunch, French news agency Agence France-Presse reported. Putin praised discussions as "constructive," AFP said. How hunt for foreign sub unfolded Criticism over Crimea, MH17 The pressure on Putin continued Sunday, with Obama and the leaders of Japan and Australia issuing a statement expressing opposition to "Russia's purported annexation of Crimea and its actions to destabilize eastern Ukraine." Western countries and the Ukrainian government in Kiev accuse Moscow of sending troops and military equipment into eastern Ukraine to help pro-Russian separatists fighting against government forces. Russian officials have persistently denied their military is involved. The statement also called for the prosecution of those responsible for downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine. The MH17 disaster, in which a passenger jet carrying 298 people was shot down over eastern Ukraine, is a particularly sensitive subject in Australia. The country lost 38 of its citizens and residents in the crash. Cool reception Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had promised ahead of the G20 summit to confront Putin over the disaster and demand that Russia "fully cooperate with the criminal investigation" to find out who shot down the plane. Putin's standing in Australia was made clear by his reception when he arrived in the country Friday. The Russian leader stepped off his flight from Moscow to be greeted by Australia's deputy defense secretary, a junior minister in Abbott's cabinet. Standing nearby was a much bigger political personage, Australian Attorney-General George Brandis. But Brandis made no attempt to greet Putin. Not long afterward, however, Brandis was filmed enthusiastically welcoming German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping. When Abbott and Putin met at the event, they shook hands, exchanged a few words and smiled. Abbott said Sunday that he has "some differences" with the Russian government, but that he was happy to treat Putin "with respect and courtesy" as a guest in Australia. 'Ice Cold War' Meanwhile, the Saturday edition of a local newspaper, The Courier Mail, displayed a giant front page graphic of a Russian bear, complete with fur hat, matching up against a boxing kangaroo, above the headline "Ice Cold War." Inside, splashed across two pages, was quote after quote from Abbott, reportedly revealing details of his 20-minute conversation with Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Beijing earlier in the week. Abbott said he told Putin that he should stop trying to "recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the Soviet Union," and he accused Russia of stepping up its aggression, which was part of a "regrettable pattern." Adding an extra edge to the atmosphere, Moscow deployed four naval warships near Australia in the lead-up to the G20 meetings, the semiofficial Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. One of the ships, the Varyag, was once named "Red Ukraine." The news agency said it was not uncommon for Russian warships to accompany the country's leaders on foreign trips. Warnings from West The Ukraine crisis has led to a broader souring of relations between Russia and the West. Tensions inched up between Moscow and Washington this week following Russia's announcement Wednesday that it plans to send long-range bombers on flights to the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. government says no present security concerns warrant such maneuvers. British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Russia on Friday to change course over Ukraine. Otherwise, he said, "The relationship that Britain has with Russia, that the European Union has with Russia, the relationship that I hope Australia has with Russia, will be very different." Putin and Cameron met face-to-face in Brisbane on Saturday, and the Ukraine crisis "dominated the conversation," according to a statement from the Kremlin. "David Cameron expressed his views on the current state of affairs in the southeast of Ukraine, while Vladimir Putin provided extensive clarifications," the Russian statement explained diplomatically. Putin met with several other Western leaders, including Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. Obama said at a news conference Sunday that his interactions with Putin had been "businesslike and blunt." If Putin continues down the same path on Ukraine, Russia will continue to be isolated, Obama said. "It is not our preference to see Russia isolated the way it is," he said. Putin blasts sanctions The United States and European countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia over its involvement in Ukraine. Putin criticized those measures in comments Thursday to the Russian news agency TASS, saying they undermine "the whole system of international economic relations." "They run counter to the very principle of G20 activities, and not only the activities of the G20 and its principles, they run counter to international law, because sanctions may be introduced only through the United Nations and its Security Council," Putin said. The G20's job is actually to focus on financial and economic matters. Ukraine is not officially on the agenda, but it has loomed large over the gathering, overshadowing Australia's plans for the meetings. Abbott tried to get the tough talk with Putin out of the way earlier in the week at APEC, in an attempt to keep the G20 focused on economic growth, said Michael Kofman, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Australia "did not want the summit ruined by the Russia issue," Kofman told CNN. "But quite the opposite happened." READ: Brisbane welcomes G20 to paradise