Interview with Major Garrett of CBS's "This Morning"

GARRETT: [question omitted]

THE PRESIDENT: Contrary to all the rhetoric that you're hearing from Russia, there's no excuse for not only Russian troops being massed along the borders of Ukraine, but also there's no excuse for the covert support and certainly the rhetorical support that you're seeing for these militias that are taking over government buildings and causing chaos.

GARRETT: So it sounds like you're saying Vladimir Putin is trying to provoke a civil war.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, what I'm saying is that the Russians generally have not been respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. And that's not simply my opinion. That's world opinion.

The question now becomes whether or not this can be deescalated and resolved in a way that gives Ukrainians a chance to make their own decisions about their own lives. What I've said consistently is that each time Russia takes these kinds of steps that are designed to destabilize Ukraine and violate their sovereignty, that there are going to be consequences.

Mr. Putin's decisions are not just bad for Ukraine. Over the long term, they're going to be bad for Russia. Now, we want to give diplomacy a chance as long as ultimately the decisions are being made by Ukrainians -- not by Russians, not by Americans, not by other European nations, but by Ukrainians themselves.

GARRETT: I know you've thought a lot about this, Mr. President. In your mind, is there a line -- never mind the color -- is there a line in Eastern Europe or Ukraine that Vladimir Putin must not cross?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I --

GARRETT: Can you articulate that for the world and for the Russian government?

THE PRESIDENT: I think the world understands very clearly that Ukraine is a sovereign nation that has deep historical roots with Russia. None of us think that somehow Ukraine can ignore Russia, should be hostile towards Russia. But we also don't think that Ukraine should be a vassal state.

Now, what we have said consistently is that we're not going to see a military resolution to this problem. Ukraine is not a NATO ally. But we do have a stake, as every country around the world has a stake, in upholding basic international norms and basic international rules.

So what we're going to be doing is working closely with not just our European allies, but allies around the world and partners around the world, sending a strong message to Russia that there are consequences to this. And I think it's very important because we haven't seen enough of this in some of the reporting.

What Mr. Putin's been doing, he does out of sense of weakness, not strength. The fact that he's willing to endanger his economy and lose all credibility around the world the way he has is indicative of the fact that Ukrainians are unsatisfied with a relationship in which you've got another country trying to dictate their foreign policy and their economy. And they want to move forward.

GARRETT: What message do you think Vladimir Putin is trying to send you and the U.S. military by having a Russian fighter jet buzz a U.S. warship? Is he mocking you and the U.S. military?

THE PRESIDENT: I have to tell you that everybody around the world understands the superiority of our military. And as commander in chief, I don't make decisions based on perceived signals. We make decisions very deliberately based on what's required for our security and for the security of our allies.

The Russians understand that. They're not interested in any kind of military confrontation with us, understanding that our conventional forces are significantly superior to the Russians'. We don't need a war. What we do need is a recognition that countries like Ukraine can have relationships with a whole range of their neighbors. And it is not up to anybody, whether it's Russia or the United States or anybody else, to make decisions for them.

GARRETT: But what I really want to know, Mr. Vice President, is the expectation -- even the optics of this will be viewed by some through the prism of 2016. That's going to be true whatever you do, the moment you declare whether you're a candidate or not. Does that change your ability to work on behalf of this president?

VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: There's nothing I would do differently if I absolutely knew I wasn't going to run or I absolutely knew I was. There's nothing I'd do differently over the next seven, eight, 10 months. We have a very important job to do. The president -- his agenda is one I strongly believe in. And we have upcoming elections in 2014.

If I decide to run, believe me, this will be the first guy I talk to. But that decision hasn't been made, for real. And there's plenty of time to make that. We have a lot of work to do between now and November.

GARRETT: Mr. President, how does this all filter through your daily life?

THE PRESIDENT: I couldn't say -- I couldn't say it better myself. I've got somebody who I think will go down as one of the finest vice presidents in history. And he has been, as I said earlier, a great partner in everything that I do.

I suspect that there may be other potential candidates for 2016 who have been great friends and allies. I know that we've got an extraordinary secretary of state who did great service for us and worked with me and Joe to help make the country safer.

Whoever the Democratic standard bearer is is going to be continuing to focus on jobs, making sure that our kids are getting a great education, making sure that we're rebuilding prosperity from the middle class out in this country. And I am very much interested in making sure that some of the stuff that we've gotten started continues.

GARRETT: It sounds like what you're describing is whoever the candidate would be would be running for a third term of the Obama presidency --

THE PRESIDENT: Oh --

GARRETT: -- or an extension of the Obama agenda.

THE PRESIDENT: I don't want to start -- I don't want to necessarily --

GARRETT: Is that true?

THE PRESIDENT: -- jam them up. You know, we all are part of this relay race, whether we're vice presidents, presidents. You know, the truth is that we build off of what folks have done previously. And in some cases that includes, by the way, Republican presidents. That's the beauty of our democracy. It keeps on evolving.

And I'm sure that there are going to be some things that whoever the next president is will want to continue. There are going to be some things that I'm sure they want to do differently. But the trajectory hopefully is going to continue to be one in which we're broadening opportunity for every American.