Hillary Clinton Urges West to ‘Double Down’ on Pressure Against Russia

Appearing Sunday on NBC News’ Meet the Press, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the West to “double down” on its pressure against Russia as its military invasion of Ukraine drags on.

A transcript is as follows: 

CHUCK TODD: You heard Secretary Blinken essentially say, “Look, sanctions relief could happen. It all depends on the behavior of Russia.” Can we really live in a world where Putin’s let back into the new world order?

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, that’s not what I heard him say. What I heard him say was that, really, we are going to support the Ukrainians, the people and the government of Ukraine, as they try to figure out what for them is the best way forward. And that, I think, is exactly the right position for the United States, Europe, and the West, and other countries to take. Your second part of that question, though, is a really important one. I would not allow Russia back into the organizations that it has been a part of. I think there is an upcoming G20 event later in the year. I would not permit Russia to attend. And if they insisted on literally showing up, I would hope there would be a significant, if not total, boycott. The only way that we’re going to end the bloodshed and the terror that we’re seeing unleashed in Ukraine and protect Europe and democracy, is to do everything we can to impose even greater costs on Putin.

There are more banks that can be sanctioned and taken out of the so-called SWIFT relationship. There is an increasing call for doing more on gas and oil. Now, obviously some of our strongest allies in Europe are desperately trying to get out from under their dependence upon Russian energy. We need to expedite. And I know the administration has been doing that, looking at more deliveries of liquefied natural gas, for instance.

“So I think now is the time to double down on the pressure. Let’s not fantasize about what comes next in Russia. Let’s focus on what we’re doing right now to help protect and defend the Ukrainian people’s right to be a free, democratic nation and protect their sovereignty,” Clinton concluded.