Senate Republicans have slammed President Barack Obama's response to Russian aggression as timid and insufficient, and offered an alternative that would impose sanctions on banking and energy sectors and provide weapons to Ukraine.
In an election-year broadside against administration policy, eight Republicans led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell unveiled a package of penalties on Russians, assistance for NATO and exportation of US natural gas. The senators yesterday said they hoped to secure Democratic support and, at a minimum, force the White House to develop a cohesive strategy rather than its ad hoc response.
"Without being overly partisan," McConnell, who faces re-election this year, said of the administration, "I'm deeply disappointed with the tepid response to Russian aggression."
The US and the European Union imposed new sanctions against government officials in Moscow and some businesses this week, the latest round of penalties in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and the increasing unrest in eastern Ukraine.
In the latest development, Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said the country's police and security forces are helpless to quell unrest in two eastern regions bordering Russia, and in some cases are cooperating with pro-Russian gunmen who have seized government buildings and taken hostages.
Russia has been emboldened, placing tens of thousands of troops near the border with Ukraine and increasing fears in Ukraine of an invasion.
"What Russia has done violates not just Ukrainian sovereignty but the fundamental principle that European borders cannot, will not be changed through political intimidation or military force," Vice President Joe Biden said in a speech yesterday at the Atlantic Council.
At a Capitol Hill news conference, McConnell, Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, and a half dozen other Republicans assailed Obama's response, casting it as ineffective as his Syria and Libya strategies.
"Insufficient, tepid, too timid," said Senator Kelly Ayotte.
"The president has an uncanny ability of underestimating every crisis and being late," said Senator Lindsey Graham. A day earlier, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew defended the administration and EU sanctions, saying there had been "quite a substantial deterioration in the Russian economy.
