LaMalfa’s statement on Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine, including launching missiles from Belarus into Ukraine, killing at least 40 Ukrainian soldiers and wounding dozens more. Putin has warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen,” and justified his actions after the U.S. and its allies crossed Russia’s “red line” by expanding the NATO alliance along Russia’s borders. Following this attack, President Biden announced further economic sanctions against Russia that would target Russian banks holding a combined $1 trillion in assets, including VTB Bank. He also stated that the U.S. would impose sanctions on additional Russian oligarchs with links to the Kremlin.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa released the following statement:
“This was a premeditated attack designed to expand Russia’s power. The sanctions implemented by President Biden earlier this week were not nearly strong enough to warn Putin off from an invasion. I support the sanctions announced today but wish they had been imposed as soon as skirmishes started days ago. I don’t believe we have months to wait to see if these sanctions work. Along with our allies we should pursue every possible sanction available now, not later, including directly sanctioning Putin himself, pulling the dollar out of all Russian banks and crippling the oligarchs that control Russia and their military leadership. I stand with the Ukrainians in their fight against tyranny and am joining my colleagues in Congress to push the U.N. to strip Russia of its permanent membership on the U.N. Security Council. We need to aggressively return to 2020 energy policy to begin lowering costs to American consumers and reduce the global price of oil that is helping finance Russian aggression.”