Republicans Call On Obama To Not Wait On Imposing New Sanctions Against Russia
By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, May 6, 2014 21:26 EDT
U.S. senators were split over when to impose new sanctions on Russia, with Republicans saying President Barack Obama should not wait until Ukraine’s upcoming election before slapping Moscow with sector-wide penalties.
The White House has said it remains prepared to impose biting new sanctions on Russia, which has annexed the Crimean peninsula and furthered its aggression in unrest-plagued eastern Ukraine, should its forces disrupt Ukraine’s May 25 poll.
“If we don’t act now and wait til the elections, my fear is it’ll be too late,” Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said as she and other lawmakers emerged from a classified briefing on Ukraine.
“I continue to remain very unsatisfied by the insufficiency of the administration’s response to what’s happening in Ukraine,” including Washington’s refusal to provide “anti-tank” military weaponry to Ukraine forces to battle Russian-equipped insurgents, she said.
Close Ayotte ally Senator Lindsey Graham said he already saw a green light for Obama to tighten the screws on the Russian economy immediately, saying the standard of disrupting the Ukrainian vote “has already been met.”
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/06/republicans-call-on-obama-to-not-wait-on-imposing-new-sanctions-against-russia/
