http://www.wltx.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/01/congress-russia-sanctions/5928599/
Members of Congress, most of whom had left Washington for the weekend, responded in kind but stopped short of advocating any direct military action.
The ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, called for immediate sanctions against Russia.
“Vladimir Putin is seizing a neighboring territory — again — so President Obama must lead a meaningful, unified response,” Corker said in a statement.
Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., took a different approach, advocating for “a robust international economic assistance package” — including loan guarantees — for Ukraine. Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, said the Russian parliament’s moves “are acts of aggression that violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., another member of the committee, went further. Not only should the United States recall its ambassador to Russia, he said, but it should revoke visas and freeze assets of anyone associated with the Putin regime, supply military assistance to Ukraine and boot Russia from the G-8 group of industrialized nations.
Cotton’s statement also revealed a bit of domestic politics, blaming “President Obama’s trembling inaction” for the crisis. Cotton, who’s running for a Senate seat, compared Russian aggression in Crimea to the German annexation of Austria in 1938 and suggested that U.S. officials were downplaying the seriousness of the situation.
Democrats, however, said Putin alone was responsible for the crisis. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., tweeted, “Situation in Ukraine is now very grave. Putin is playing (with) fire in the Crimea.”
10.14pm GMT
Here is the full statement from Putin’s office on his call with Obama.
In response to the concern shown by Obama about the plans for the possible use of Russia’s armed forces on the territory of Ukraine, Putin drew attention to the provocative, criminal actions by ultra-nationalists, in essence encouraged by the current authorities in Kiev,” the statement said.
The Russian President underlined that there are real threats to the life and health of Russian citizens and compatriots on Ukrainian territory. Vladimir Putin stressed that if violence spread further in the eastern regions of Ukraine and in Crimea, Russia reserves the right to protect its interests and those of Russian speakers living there
