Let me be clear, this is a crisis of Putin’s making, and he could end it as quickly as he started it.
John,
My thoughts are with the people of Ukraine right now, and my heart goes out to the refugees forced to leave their homes and the many Ukrainians fighting for their country.
Let me be clear, this is a crisis of Putin’s making, and he could end it as quickly as he started it. Putin must be held accountable for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and its destabilizing effect on our national security. That’s why the US and our allies are taking action to cripple Putin from building capacity to invade other sovereign nations and to pressure Russia to end its attack on Ukraine. Here’s a bit on how the US is doing that:
- The US and our allies have imposed sanctions that are designed to hurt Putin and Russian oligarchs, but have as minimal of an effect as possible on Americans and American businesses. The consequences of these sanctions are immediate but also will have cumulative effects over time that will decrease the risk of further aggression from Putin.
- With partners around the world, we have imposed export controls on things you might expect (like night goggles and military items) but also on semiconductors—which are used in everything from cars to electronics to advanced weapons. Together with our allies, we control about 70% of the semiconductors imported into Russia, so these export controls have major short-term and long-term consequences for Russia’s economy and military.
I’m proud that our country acted swiftly, in unprecedented cooperation with our allies, to hold Putin accountable. I’ll continue to advocate for doing all that we can to end this manufactured crisis, while providing humanitarian assistance to those in need.
Thanks for reading,
Katie Porter
