The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Blumenthal urges strong response to Russia
NEW HAVEN » U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal visited St. Michael’s Ukraine Church Sunday to urge strong measures to counter what he described as increasing Russian aggression in Ukraine and around the globe and talk about his proposed legislation to accomplish that.
“They are testing the United States resolve in the wake of the election,” he told an audience of parishioners after Sunday service. “Ukraine is the tip of the sphere. Their cyber attack undermined our democracy.”
Escalating Russian aggression has raised concern throughout the international community, Blumenthal said, including buzzing a U.S. destroyer in the Black Sea, deploying a cruise missile in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, sending a spy ship near Connecticut’s coast, cyber attacks as well as “communications with members of the president’s team during and after the campaign.”
Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Ukraine Caucus and a familiar visitor at St. Michael’s, called for stronger sanctions against Russia and aid from the government — the Trump administration — in equipping Ukraine soldiers with better military defensive equipment in their fight with the Russians.
“Such a clear, loud signal of support is needed more than ever; Russia cannot act with impunity,” said Blumenthal, who called Putin a “KGB thug”and said Putin will “exploit our weaknesses.”
Earlier this month, Blumenthal led a group of 13 senators in sending a letter urging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to end recent ambiguity and affirm the United States’ opposition to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and continued military aggression in eastern Ukraine.
Blumenthal joined a group of bipartisan senators to introduce the Counteracting Russian Hostilities Act of 2017, which mandates sanctions against Russia for cyber attacks and military aggression in Ukraine and supports programs for institutions in Europe that combat Russian political interference.
Blumenthal said the broad measures he’s proposed would freeze assets and impose more sanctions. He said the Russian economy is “flat on its back” already.