Will Biden and Kamala stop Putin?
On Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris revealed she believed sanctions would deter Russia from invading Ukraine, a complete about-turn from an earlier stance she and President Bidenʼs took that Putin had already made up his mind on invading Ukraine.
Harris made these remarks while addressing reporters at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, saying that the sanctions against Russia were “some of the greatest sanctions, if not the strongest,” the U.S. had ever issued.
She also claimed the sanctions were “directed at institutions — in particular, financial institutions — and individuals, and it will exact absolute harm for the Russian economy and their government.”
Harrisʼs comments follow a plea by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the U.S. and its allies level sanctions against Russia before a potential invasion occurs.
Speaking at the Security Conference, Zelenskyy said Ukraine doesn’t need “sanctions after the bombardment will happen, and after our country will be fired at or after we will have no borders or after we will have no economy or parts of our country will be occupied,” before questioning why the country would need sanctions then.
When Harris was asked by a reporter at the conference if she believed sanctions would work to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite her earlier remarks that Putin had made a decision, Harris replied, that the U.S. — and by extension its allies — “strongly believe” that “the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one,” adding that the Allied position was that “there is a diplomatic path out of this moment.”
On Sunday, shelling in Ukraine had increased with the help of Russia-backed rebels. It was also reported that Putin had amassed more than 150,000 Russian forces at Ukraineʼs border.
