Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th Dist.) on Thursday called for stiffer sanctions against “Putin and his cronies” in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It is critical to show Putin just how damaging this decision to invade will be to his country and his allies,” Sherrill said in a statement.
Earlier, President Biden announced new economic sanctions against Russia. U.S. allies also have imposed sanctions.
Freezing monetary assets doesn’t go far enough, Sherrill said. She called for immediate travel restrictions on Russian oligarchs and their families, removing Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system, and imposing “full blocking” sanctions on the Russian Central Bank.
“We must sanction Putin himself” for his “unprovoked and unjustifiable attack (against)…a sovereign, democratic nation,” said the former Navy helicopter pilot.
“He has attempted to rewrite history and has unleashed propaganda and disinformation in pursuit of his clear desire to rebuild the Soviet Union’s so-called sphere of influence. The strikes he authorized last night are unconscionable, and he is directly responsible for the deaths caused,” said Sherrill, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee.
She met last month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine, with a delegation led by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In Whippany last week, Sherrill conferred with local Ukrainian-American leaders at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center of New Jersey.
The U.S. Naval Academy graduate served in the Navy as a Russian policy officer, overseeing relations between the two countries’ navies and working on our nuclear treaty obligations, she said.
On the Armed Services Committee, Sherrill is vice chair of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee.
Someone needs to tell the congress woman that this administration has been supporting Putin by giving him $$ billions for his oil. A sad fact. What is her position on that? It’s where he is getting funding for his wars and his property take backs.
We were finally energy independent a few years ago. Now we are at mercy of Russian and the Middle East.
Anytime we get these oil shortages and oil price increases the cost gets passed directly onto the consumers I’d like to know how the congresswoman thinks that’s good for the general public and our well-being?
Time for some flexibility on that issue.