“I think we're going to lose eastern Ukraine if we continue as we are, and I think it's going to be a geopolitical disaster if that occurs.”
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. – On NBC’s Meet the Press today, U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the administration to impose targeted sanctions on Russian companies in the energy and financial sectors and warned that eastern Ukraine will be lost if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not feel real consequences for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“I don't think Putin believes we're really going to punish them... We keep waiting to see what their next step is,” said Corker. “As I have said before, our foreign policy is always a day late and a dollar short because we're reacting. To me, unless [Russia] immediately begin[s] moving the 40,000 troops on the border, which are intimidating people in Ukraine…I really do believe we should be sanctioning some of the companies in the energy sector. I think we should hit some of the large banks there, and certainly we should beef up our security relationship with Ukraine.”
Corker added, “I think we're going to lose eastern Ukraine if we continue as we are, and I think it's going to be a geopolitical disaster if that occurs…The world is watching; our allies in Europe are watching…and I think we need to step on out and do the things that we threaten because I don't think Putin will respond to anything else other than us overtly doing the things we've laid out.”
Senator Corker will be traveling to the region again this week to assess firsthand the situation in Ukraine.
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