OHIO – Ohio Senator Rob Portman is calling on President Biden to get tough with Russia
“President Biden’s initial sanctions announcement in response to Russian aggression in Donetsk and Luhansk is an important first step, but does not go far enough.
“The international community, including the U.S., EU, UK, Canada, Australia and others have now made it clear that Russia will face economic consequences for violating international law and Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The Biden administration’s plans to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and its CEO, along with Germany’s decision to finally suspend certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, is also welcome news. The international community must now strengthen these sanctions to ensure the economic consequences will be damaging enough to the Russian economy to stop the aggression and avoid a dangerous escalation of the eight-year-old war in Ukraine.
“Two Russian financial institutions and a small number of individuals are targeted in this first round of sanctions. To create an effective deterrent, tougher sanctions must be expanded to other financial institutions and export controls must be implemented.
“With regard to export controls, working with our allies in Europe and Asia, the global community could effectively restrict the tools Russia needs to manufacture and resupply its military. The announcement by Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore to work with the United States and other allies to block certain key exports to Russia was a welcome first step that must be expanded and implemented.
“We learned from Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 that unless sanctions are strong and multilateral they will not deter Russian aggression and malign activity.”
President Biden said in a press conference yesterday, “We still believe that Russia is poised to go much further and launch a massive military attack against Ukraine.”
The new sanctions will go against Russia’s money and will target bank VEB and Russias sovereign debt cutting the country off to Western bank monies. The sanctions will also target Russian elites and family members to put pressure on them to stop the possible invasion.
The President said that he was also moving Troops and equipment into Baltic allies, but said that he does not plan on getting into a fight with Russia. In the public address, Biden said it was a defensive move.
Russia has decided to recognize the purported “independence” of the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine, including the Executive Order issued last night
“As Russia contemplates this next move, we have our next move prepared as well,” Biden warned. “Russia will pay an even steeper price if it continues its aggression, including additional sanctions.”
