The United States should hold off on punishing Russia until the European community is on board with a specific response to the growing crisis in Ukraine, the Senate’s top Democrat said Monday.
In an interview, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Congress should let the situation play out for “a while” before trying to impose any new sanctions on Russia, which is dispatching military forces into Crimea — forcing the West to scramble for a response.
“The most important thing is for us – the United States – to make sure that we don’t go off without the European community,” Reid said Monday in the Capitol. “We have to work with them. Their interests are really paramount if we are going to do sanctions of some kind. We have to have them on board with us.”
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The comments are Reid’s first since the crisis in Ukraine deepened over the weekend. Congressional leaders from both parties have condemned Russia’s actions in recent days but have said little about how they might proceed.
Reid said he’s spoken to White House chief of staff Denis McDonough “a couple times” about the situation and was scheduled to get a classified briefing from CIA Director John Brennan on Monday. McDonough also has spoken with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
If the U.S. ultimately takes action, Reid suggested the government could move to clamp down on the banking sector to hurt Russia, which he accidentally referred to as the Soviet Union.
“We can pretty much control banking, which is so important to the Soviet Un – to the Russians,” Reid said with a grin. “How soon we forget, huh?”
“The main thing is the European community,” Reid said. “They need to be part of what we do.”
One reason to wait before pushing penalties on Russia: Gridlock that has brought most legislative activity to a halt in Congress.
“We couldn’t do congressional action if we wanted, we can’t get in the damn building,” Reid said. “I think we should just play this out for a while.”
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The Nevada Democrat’s assessment comes as urgent talks take place in New York, where the United Nations Security Council plans to meet Monday, and in Brussels, where European Union leaders were engaged in emergency meetings over the escalating situation in Eastern Ukraine. The leaders of the 28-member European bloc plan to meet Thursday in Ukraine, just as Secretary of John Kerry travels to Kiev on Tuesday and as Vladimir Putin says he’s moving to protect Russians in the unstable country.
Making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows, Kerry raised the specter of potential punitive actions against Russia, insisting that the United States was united in its response.
“There could even be ultimately asset freezes, visa bans,” Kerry said Sunday on NBC. “There could be certainly a disruption of any of the normal trade routine, and there could be business drawback on investment in the country. The ruble is already going down and feeling the impact of this.”
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But there’s concern that imposing sanctions on Russia will have negative consequences on U.S. allies. Russia supplies massive amounts of natural gas to European countries and might decide to cut those ties in response to sanctions.
It remains to be seen whether Congress will do anything.
Reid’s No. 2, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), said on CNN that the Senate should pass a resolution “condemning what Putin has done.” He added that the United States should clearly should state that if Ukraine will “stand up for real reform, then we’re going to back them through” the International Monetary Fund.
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Still, a non-binding resolution is more symbolic than anything else, and there’s already pressure from Republicans for Congress to take more substantive action.
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said over the weekend that Congress should “consider targeted sanctions against Russian persons and entities that undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Added Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “I would fly the NATO flag as strongly as I could around Putin. I would suspend his membership in the G-8, be the G-7. The G-20 would become the G-19 at least for a year. And every day he stays in the Ukraine, I would add to it.”
Reid: Get Europe on board before punishing Russia
LIMBAUGH: I think that Mr. Gruber believes that he’s part of the genetic aristocracy, and I think Obama thinks that he is part of the genetic aristocracy, ’cause they’re the smartest in the room. They believe in a genetic aristocracy just like they believe in an economic aristocracy. And they’re in it. Oprah thinks that she’s in it. So does this idiot, Toure. I’m sure he thinks he’s in the genetic aristocracy. 