Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including some Democrats, are getting ready to be disappointed in President Obama after he meets to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict in this weekend’s G-7 meeting in Germany.
The White House made clear this week that its main objective is to remind Russia that the G-7 disapproves of Russia’s latest aggression against Ukraine, by reaffirming its commitment to economic sanctions against Russia, and to warn that more sanctions may be coming.
“It’s very important coming out of these G-7 meetings that the world is seen as speaking with one voice in support of those important consequences that have been imposed on Russia, and to demonstrate that Russia will continue to face those sanctions until a diplomatic solution is fully implemented,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters Thursday.
“[I]t’s important for Russia to understand that should it continue to have further escalation in Ukraine, it could be faced with additional consequences,” he added.
But that won’t be nearly enough for some in Congress who say the Obama administration has spent months avoiding calls to arm Ukraine, and has been reduced to asking Russia repeatedly to live up to a ceasefire agreed in February. On Friday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., previewed what Obama can expect to hear when he returns from the summit.
“The Ukrainian people … are simply asking for the right tools to defend themselves and their country,” McCain said Friday about legislation authorizing the Defense Department, which calls on Obama to arm Ukraine. “Those are the tools the [National Defense Authorization Act] would provide. The NDAA doesn’t force the president to provide lethal assistance to Ukraine. Trust me, if there were a way to do that, it would be in the bill.”
“The freedom of the Ukrainian people and the very existence of Ukraine as a democratic state may depend on his decision,” whether to arm Ukrainian troops, he added.
McCain isn’t alone, and the drumbeat from Capitol Hill for Obama to give weapons to Ukraine has been steady. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said in the Omaha World Herald Friday that during her trip to Ukraine, people there were asking for arms.
“They are not saying: You need to send troops in here. (Just) please give us more than blankets,” Fischer said.
Those sentiments were echoed by members of both parties at a March hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and in May, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said the U.S. needs to “ensure that we do all we can for the future of Ukraine.”
The issue is clear in the House, which overwhelmingly passed a resolution in March urging Obama to arm Ukraine. The vote was 348-48.
But the G-7 is not expected to include any statements about arming Ukraine or imposing new sanctions when it issues its summit declaration after the two-day gathering. Steven Pifer, director of the Brookings Institution’s Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative, said it’s not in the scope of the G-7’s authority to call for sanctions, and that the European Council would have to take that action.
Russia last year was expelled from the G-7, which was the G-8, for annexing Crimea. The European Council that imposed European-wide financial penalties against Russia meets at month’s end to discuss their expiration.
With no hope of decision on arms or sanctions, that leaves the G-7 with the seemingly easy goal of finding agreement to maintain current sanctions against Russia.
“Maintaining our united front on sanctions is key to ending Russian aggression against Ukraine,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif. “The sanctions must remain in place until President Putin withdraws Russian support from the separatists and fully implements the Minsk ceasefire.”
In the meantime, the White House has been continually calling on Ukraine to live up to a cease fire that has failed for months to take hold. Obama spoke to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday to discuss the escalating situation in eastern Ukraine where Russian-back separatists are battling government forces.
The two leaders “once more called on Russia and the separatists it backs to abide strictly by the terms of the February Minsk implementation plan,” the White House said. “The president reaffirmed the strong support of the United States for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and reiterated his determination to continue working with international partners to provide the support Ukraine needs as it undertakes transformational reforms.”
