Russia Briefing Underscores Need for Strong Russia Sanctions, Senators Say
The Biden administration’s closed briefing to lawmakers on Feb. 3 only underlined the need for strong U.S. sanctions against Russia, several senators said. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said administration officials gave a “factual assessment” of the dire situation at the Ukrainian border, which could soon see a Russian military invasion. “It's really hard to listen to all that and not conclude that we need to do more,” Coons told reporters on Capitol Hill. “Everything should be on the table in terms of sanctions.”
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Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Jim Risch, the committee’s top Republican, said they are still working through a bill that would impose both pre- and post-invasion sanctions against Russia. Both continued to say negotiations are nearly complete (see 2202010050). “We're close,” Risch, of Idaho, said. “We're going to have something to you before too long.”
Menendez, of New Jersey, said the administration’s Russia briefing “only makes the case that this is more pressing, more timely.” He said he is hopeful the sanctions package will appeal to both Republicans and the White House, which is hoping to use the threat of additional sanctions as leverage to deter Russia from invading Ukraine (see 2201250042 and 2201270049) and has opposed sanctioning the Russia-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Menendez said the bill will likely include some form of Nord Stream 2 sanctions.
“I believe we can find something that meets that desire,” Menendez said. When asked whether the White House will approve of the sanctions, he said: “I think they need to see them” first. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he thinks the administration is “determined to wait on Nord Stream 2” sanctions until after the “likely invasion.”
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the U.S. can best deter Russia from mobilizing its military by imposing additional sanctions immediately. “We need to start imposing those now so that [President Vladimir] Putin understands what could happen to his economy with those sanctions,” she told reporters.
Coons said the U.S. should use a combination of the two tactics by imposing some sanctions now but withholding most of the penalties until after a potential invasion. “I think we should hold back the most aggressive and most punishing sanctions for now as a deterrent, because the whole goal here is to keep open some space for diplomacy and to deter aggression,” Coons said. “But it needs to be clear to Putin that the cost from the NATO alliance and from the United States for further invading Ukraine will be substantial.”