You're reading: Two US senators urge Obama to impose tougher sanctions on Russia now; Yatsenyuk says Putin wants to ‘eliminate Ukrainian independence’

In a bipartisan show of support for Ukraine, two U.S. senators influential on foreign policy called on U.S. President Barack Obama to ratchet up sanctions against Russia to deter President Vladimir Putin from taking more of Ukraine's territory through military force or covert special operations.

Read the full transcript of the April 20 ‘Meet the Press’ program on NBC-TV here

U.S. Sen Bob Corker (Republican-Tennessee) and U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut) said the time has come for Obama to apply sanctions against Russian energy companies and banks – the so-called “sectoral sanctions” — in a bid to deter Putin. They made their remarks on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” news program on April 20.

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March and Ukraine says Kremlin-backed soldiers, despite Putin’s denials, and other Russian special service agents are launching a similar campaign with the aim of dismembering Ukraine and destabilizing the government that took over after the triumph of the Euromaidan Revolution on Feb. 22.

“Go ahead and put in place some of the sectoral sanctions that have been discussed,” Corker said. “I don’t think Putin believes we’re going to punish them that way. (Obama’s foreign policy is) a day late and a dollar short. We’re always reacting.”

Corker said U.S. sanctions, more powerful if they are in concert with European allies, should stay tough until Russia moves its 40,000 troops away from Ukraine’s eastern border and stops instigating instability inside Ukraine. 

Corker also said that America should “beef up its security relationships with Ukraine” and help the nation with military hardware to dislodge Russian-backed separatists. To leave Ukraine alone “is unconscionable,” Corker said, noting that Ukraine has only 6,000 combat-ready troops to combat Russia’s vast army. If the U.S. doesn’t act now, Corker said, eastern Ukraine will be lost to Russia over time through black special operations.

Corker said he’s afraid the Obama administration is content to let Russia’s covert operations continue, as long as an overt invasion of 40,000 Russian troops doesn’t take place. He drew a parallel to Syria in which Obama vowed to take action after Syrian President Bashir al-Assad killed 1,200 people will chemical weapons last year, but ultimately did nothing; in the meantime, since then, Assad has killed 60,000 more people through conventional means, Corker said.

“The administration is saying to Russia…you can continue to undermine the sovereignty” as long as it doesn’t embarrass America with a full-scale, overt military invasion, Corker said. America must “push back now” or “it’s going to be too late…I think we need to step up and do the things we’ve threatened.”

Murphy said that Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is focused on rebuilding the Ukrainian economy and military strength that “is so deteriorated” after four years of misrule by ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. He said it’s not clear that Ukraine’s military can now effectively use weapons given to them.

But Murphy agreed with Corker that “the time is now to rapidly ratchet up our sanctions on Russian petrochemical companies or banks.” He also called on European allies to share the economic pain from the sanctions in exchange for greater security against further Russian aggression. He said that the United States, in the next 18 months, can help Europe wean its dependence on Russian natural gas by stepping up liquified natural gas exports, for instance.

Yatsenyuk, being interviewed from Kyiv, appeared on the program to say that Putin “has a dream to restore the Soviet Union” and noting that the pro-Russian separatists are refusing to stand down and abide by last week’s Geneva agreements to vacate public buildings in eastern Ukraine.

“Much depends on the Russian Federation,” Yatsenyuk said. “As Russia triggered this violence and Russia supported these terrorists, and Russia was obliged to engineer a meeting to condemn terrorists and to condemn those so-called peaceful protesters with AK-74 in their hands, shooting into civilians and shooting into Ukrainian riot police. And if Russia pulls back its security forces and former K.G.B. agents, this would definitely calm down the situation and stabilize the situation in southern and eastern Ukraine.”

Yatsenyuk said Putin wants to destroy Ukraine as an independent nation — and more.

“President Putin has a dream to restore the Soviet Union. And every day, he goes further and further. And God knows where is the final destination. And he was very clear, saying this stuff in his state of the union two years ago,” Yatsenyuk said. “And I believe that you do remember his famous Munich speech saying that the biggest disaster of the former century is the collapse of the Soviet Union. I consider that the biggest disaster of this century would be the restoring of the Soviet Union under the auspices of President Putin.”

Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine needs to rebuild its economy and “overhaul the Ukrainian military, modernize our security forces” that are vastly outspent by Russia. “In the last four years, the former president, together with Russian supporters, dismantled the Russian military and security forces,” Yatsenyuk said, referring to Yanukovych.

“We can fix our problems” with Western help, Yatsenyuk said, and Russian pullback from its aggression that is “aimed at only one thing: how to eliminate Ukrainian independence.”

Yatsenyuk also pledged “to find these bastards and bring them to justice” in reference to unknown persons who distributed leaflets asking Donetsk Oblast Jews to register with the government.

In another segment of the same program, New York Times columnist David Brooks said that Obama is not actively engaged on the crisis in Ukraine. “You get the sense that he’s stepping back from the conversation,” Brooks said. The solution, he said, is to “fill in the vacuums” around Putin, who is behaving like a 19th century imperialist, by strengthening Russia’s neighbors.

Brooks also said that by doing nothing to stop Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the West and the world’s security system has been thrown in disarray, potentially inviting other great powers to annex disputed territories and redraw boundaries.

“Once that comes into question, all over the world, all bets are off,” Brooks said, noting Obama has a “manhood problem” in the Middle East and elsewhere with people questioning his ability to act decisively.

In TV host Fareed Zakaria’s Sunday morning news program, Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations  said that Obama needs to “pursue with much more urgency and intensity” America’s responses to Russian aggression in Ukraine. “I would put much greater emphasis on ratcheting up sanctions. I don’t sense the degree of commitment and urgency that this situation requires.”

Haass, however, also noted that Ukraine’s government doesn’t function properly in many areas — economic or military.

Robert Legvold of Columbia University in New York said that Russia hasn’t come to terms with the long-term economic costs of its military adventurism, but Putin doesn’t seem to care. He said that as long as Putin hasn’t reached his goals of of a neutered and neutral Ukraine, “we’re in a long period of dangerous suspended animation as long as his goal is not yet in hand.”

Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]