Warner: Biden ‘Played It Exactly Right’ by Not Preemptively Sanctioning Russia, They Could Have ‘Split’ NATO and Weren’t Going to Work

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) argued that President Joe Biden handled sanctioning Russia “exactly right” by not preemptively sanctioning it because preemptive sanctions, or any sanctions, weren’t going to deter Putin and “preemptive sanctions might have split apart the NATO alliance.”

Warner said, “[T]his is a guy, at 69 years old, who’s got an obsession about re-creating a greater Russia. And we have been concerned for some time that, kind of, normal rules of the road would not constrain him, and I think that’s what’s playing out so far. And I’m not sure — I don’t believe that preemptive sanctions would have changed anything. Matter of fact, preemptive sanctions might have split apart the NATO alliance. I think, actually, on this one, Biden has played it exactly right. As you know, 48 hours ago or so, the German government went ahead and shut down Nord Stream 2. That was then followed by the kind of crippling sanctions on Nord Stream 2 that my Republican friends have been asking for for some time. So, I think we’ve been laying this out in a united way. But, again, I don’t think sanctions alone were ever going to deter Putin.”

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