Secretary of State John Kerry’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine leaves President Obama and the US looking “weak” and outmaneuvered in the face of looming warfare, leading Republicans charged Sunday.
Kerry made the rounds of the Sunday morning TV news shows to blast Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brazen act of aggression” in sending troops into Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula on Saturday.
Kerry also threatened “very serious repercussions,” but virtually ruled out American military action, saying the president would rather work with the UN and other “international entities” to impose economic sanctions if Russia doesn’t pull back its forces.
“This is a time for diplomacy,” Kerry said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“And we will engage diplomatically as much as we can in order to steer this away from an increase in the tension in the level of the crisis.”
A senior administration official announced Kerry would travel Monday night to Ukraine’s capital, Kiev — the site of the deadly crackdown on protesters that toppled its pro-Russian government — to take part in talks there.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said the Obama administration’s handling of the Ukraine invasion showed that Putin is “running circles around us.”
“Putin is playing chess and I think we are playing marbles, and I don’t think it’s even close” Rogers said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Rogers called on the Obama administration to move to kick Russia out of the G8 group of industrialized nations, and said Congress should start passing economic sanctions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a GOP leader on foreign policy and military issues, also slammed Obama’s hands-off approach toward Russia.
“Every time the president goes on national television and threatens Putin or anyone like Putin, everyone’s eyes roll, including mine,” Graham fumed on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“We have a weak and indecisive president that invites aggression,” Graham added.
“President Obama needs to do something. How about this: Suspend Russian membership in the G8 and the G20 at least for a year starting right now, and for every day they stay in Crimea add to the suspension. Do something.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called Russia a “government of liars” and said it was “increasingly behaving like an enemy of international peace and international norms” — and also the US.
But while Rubio, a prospective presidential candidate, urged Obama to get tough on Russia, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he opposed American military action.
During his appearances on various programs, Kerry repeatedly insisted that the invasion of Ukraine presented a challenge to the entire world, not just the US.
“You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext,” Kerry told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“So it is a very serious moment but it is serious not in the context … of Russia-US, it is serious in terms of sort of the modern manner with which nations are going to resolve problems.”