The head of Freedom House proposes to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation and send NATO ships to the Black Sea
Kyiv - Washington, March 04 (Navigator, Alisa Filatova) - The Ukrainian crisis is the biggest foreign policy challenge to the presidency of Barack Obama. David Kramer, head of the Freedom House organization and former US Assistant Secretary of State in the Bush administration, stated this in an interview with Radio Liberty.
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“The Obama administration was caught off guard by these events and, in my opinion, has still not developed a clear line of behavior,” the expert noted. He recalled that earlier, after a telephone conversation with Putin, Obama made it clear that the conversation was constructive, and Secretary of State John Kerry spoke about the possibility of constructive cooperation with Russia.
“Now we, at least, must put aside any appearance of “constructiveness” in relations with Russia. We must stop talking about the possibility of the so-called “Finlandization” of Ukraine,” Kramer added.
He proposes a number of severe sanctions against Moscow: the exclusion of Russia from the GXNUMX, the cancellation of the Sochi summit, the introduction of economic and financial sanctions against Russian state-owned concerns and enterprises, the inclusion of Russian officials involved in the invasion of Ukraine on the “Magnitsky list”, including including Putin himself, holding a NATO meeting in a country neighboring Ukraine and confirming readiness to protect Eastern European NATO members. “We could consider sending NATO ships to the Black Sea,” the diplomat added.
He called the Russian president “a merciless leader who is moving towards his goal.” “But at least now we can say that the Ukrainian events have driven the final nail into the coffin of the reset,” the former assistant secretary of state is confident.
“Putin needs to realize that if international efforts and persuasion do not bear fruit, then there is no guarantee that Ukrainians will continue to observe (...) restraint. And if they decide to enter into direct conflict, then the situation will be uncontrollable, the consequences will be unpredictable,” concluded David Kremer.
Freedom House CEO proposes imposing sanctions against Russia and sending NATO ships to the Black Sea.