In an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” Senator Bob Corker, called for “another shot across the bow” to deter Russia from further intervention in Ukraine and urged the Obama administration to begin implementing the president’s executive order authorizing sanctions against sectors of the Russian economy. Russian troops remain amassed on the Ukrainian border, and yesterday Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia of “clear and unmistakable involvement” in provoking unrest in Eastern Ukraine, which could be a pretext for an invasion.
“The president has the ability to put in place sectoral sanctions,” said Senator Corker. “We have this massive troop buildup. We know [Russian] black ops folks are operating inside Ukraine fomenting the unrest…, and yet we still have not done those things to inflict pain. We’ve become very concerned that Russia doesn’t believe the U.S. ever will. There are some sectoral sanctions…that we can put in place. Not the whole thing at one time, but for instance, naming another three or four banks now, financial institutions now, with this troop buildup…I do think another shot across the bow that would affect economically their country is an important thing to do.”