Sunday, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) called for the United States to sanction Russia before the nation invades Ukraine.
“We need to sanction Russia before an invasion — not afterward,” Barrasso told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “And here’s the reason. Let’s put this into perspective. Vladimir Putin is like the big bad wolf. He is huffing, and he is puffing. And he has the capacity, basically, to blow Ukraine down. He’s accountable to no one. And he views our president, Joe Biden, as weak and ineffective. We need to put in sanctions now, so Putin will see just what pain he will suffer if he does invade, and they have to hit him militarily, as well as economically. From a military standpoint, we need to make sure now that Ukraine has all the weapons that they need to defend themselves.”
“We know what they have asked for: anti-tank, anti-aircraft instruments,” he added. “We also need to put into place financial issues which will hit Ukraine now and specifically interfering with their ability to transact international business in dollars. Now, the biggest sledgehammer we have, of course, is energy and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This is the area, Maria, that Joe Biden has been the weakest because he has already approved that pipeline months ago.”
According to Barrasso, “Biden has played right into” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hands by ending the Keystone XL pipeline.
“The final sticking point is Nord Stream 2,” he said. “Germany saying they’re delaying the approval of the pipeline for the next six months. I want to permanently stop that pipeline. You know that Vladimir Putin very effectively uses energy as a weapon. He uses it against other countries. He uses it to fund his military.”
Barrasso continued, “And Joe Biden has played right into his hands by killing the Keystone XL pipeline in this country and making it harder for us to use the energy we have in America right now.”
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