Page 10 - Senator Risch News Today

You. we have heard stark warnings about a possible invasion from top american officials, the ukrainian president is urging the u.s. to stop those dire warnings saying it might cause panic in his country. why is the u.s. assessment of what the ukrainians -- and what the ukrainians are saying so different? >> good morning, dana. good to be with you and my friend and colleague jim risch. i think president zelensky is in a difficult position. clearly he must be preparing for the possibility of invas...

>> we think so. im more than cautiously optimistic at this point that when we get back to d.c. tomorrow that were going to be moving forward, and i know bob shares that hope, also. >> what are you going to do about the timing of the sanctions? will you say that they will not go into effect until after an invasion if that happens? or will you do it preemptively? >> thats a work in progress. but i can describe where weve come together on that, and i think its a combination of both. bob, would you ...

Going to send which means putin has to decide how many body bags of russias sons are going to return to russia. the sanctions that were talking about would come later on if he invades. some sanctions would come up front for what has been done already, but the lethal aid will travel no matter what. >> quickly, senator risch, the issue of the nord stream 2 pipeline between russia and germany, the administration is reluctant to do anything to block that. will you have -- in this legislation, will y...

Military aid, lethal aid since 2014, $650 million. its because you have 130,000 russian troops there surrounding three different parts of russias borders, and you have to take seriously that the potential for an invasion is real. its getting the ukrainians to be prepared and give them the wherewithal to defend themselves, at the same time understanding the economic needs they have. >> senator risch, you said russia is just setting up a pretext forward. do you see any scenario in which russia cho...

It within the ukraine, theres lots of consequences. its not going to include sending u.s. troops in there. the american people are not there. we dont need to be there. we have some consequences. if indeed he goes in, theres a real push to enact the swift sanctions on him. thats complicated. a little pain for us involved in that. it would bring russia to its knees very quickly. i am going to push for that. i know our european allies have indicated theyre not red hot about doing that but it needs ...

Consequences for russia if it invades ukraine, and in some cases for what it has already done. so what i would say is what we are devising, building upon the legislation that both senator risch wrote independently and i wrote, which i call the mother of all sanctions, is to include a variety of elements, massive sanctions against the most significant banks, crippling to their economy, meaningful in terms of consequences to their accounts and pensions, more lethal assistance to ukraine, the abili...

Terms of consequences to their accounts and pensions, more lethal assistance to ukraine, the ability to deal with russias sovereign debt, to look at sectoral elements of russias economy which is largely an extracting economy on energy, to sanction its sovereign debt. these are sanctions beyond any that we have ever levied before, and i think that sends a very clear message. >> senator risch, how do you get from the 1 yard line into the end zone, to keep the metaphor that the chairman just talked...

Tomorrow that were going to be moving forward, and i know bob shares that hope, also. >> what are you going to do about the timing of the sanctions? will you say that they will not go into effect until after an invasion if that happens? or will you do it preemptively? >> thats a work in progress. but i can describe where weve come together on that, and i think its a combination of both. bob, would you agree with that? >> i agree with senator risch. look, there are some sanctions that really coul...

A difficult position. clearly he must be preparing for the possibility of invasion or reinvasion since russia did that already and in the past with crimea and with regular forces in eastern ukraine. at the same time he wants to create a semblance of calm as relates to his economy which is a challenge for him as well. so i understand that. theres a reason president biden has sent more aid to ukraine, military aid, lethal aid since 2014, $650 million. its because you have 130,000 russian troops th...

Opposition to his thoughts this time. >> lets talk about what you just mentioned, senator risch, chairman menendez, youre working together. the two of you are leading a broader discussion, bipartisan discussion to put together legislation to sanction russia. the ukrainians have written the two of you and the broader group specifically asking for help. so how close are you to a deal on this legislation? >> well, senator risch and i have been working with our staffs and colleagues, a bipartisan co...