March 02, 2014, 09:53 am
Rogers: Putin 'running circles' around US
By Russell Berman
Russian President Vladimir Putin “is running circles around” the U.S. in his maneuvering on the global stage, a senior House Republican said Sunday, following Putin’s military intervention in Ukraine.
“I think Putin is playing chess, and I think we’re playing marbles. It’s not even close,” the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), said on “Fox News Sunday.”
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Rogers said Putin’s move to send Russian troops into Crimea following the ouster of Ukraine’s president “is not an isolated incident.”
“They are expanding their border,” he said. Crimea was part of Russia through 1954, and Rogers noted a proposal in the Russian parliament that would allow Crimea to become part of the Russian Federation.
In proceeding with the military intervention, Putin ignored a warning from President Obama to stay out of Ukraine.
Obama told the Russian leader in a 90-minute phone call on Friday that the aggression would diminish Russia’s standing in the international community, and the U.S. is suspending preparations for the Group of 8 economic summit in Sochi this summer.
Rogers said the U.S. should simply pull out of the summit and, along with allies, “start the process” of kicking Russia out of the G-8 altogether. The U.S. should also consider other economic sanctions in response, Rogers said.
Yet while noting his hawkish inclinations, Rogers said the U.S. should not move naval warships into the reason because it would, in all likelihood, not take military action.
“There are not a lot of options on the table,” Rogers said in reference to the military.
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