Biden sanctions are too little, too late, claim Republicans

President ‘appeasing’ Putin with incremental penalties as majority of the public disapprove of US response

REPUBLICANS accused Joe Biden of “appeasement” as a poll shows just over one third of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the crisis.

After Mr Biden introduced sanctions on two Russian banks and a handful of key Kremlin officials, Republicans in the House of Representatives issued a tweet showing a picture of Mr Biden walking away from a lectern and declining to answer questions.

“This is what weakness on the world stage looks like,” the Republicans said.

It showed how the US response to Vladimir Putin’s aggression has descended into bitter acrimony across party lines, and how divided American politicians have become over Russia since the Cold War.

Democrats were united behind Mr Biden’s approach of gradually imposing “waves” of sanctions on Russia, reacting to each step taken by Mr Putin.

But Republicans condemned the president’s tactics as “too little, too late”.

They have been arguing for some time that Mr Biden should have imposed sanctions earlier, and delivered more assistance to Ukraine sooner, to prevent Mr Putin reaching the point of invasion.

Ben Sasse, a Republican senator from Nebraska, said: “First, these sanctions should have happened before Putin further invaded Ukraine, not after.

“Second, economic sanctions now need to more aggressively target Putin’s oligarchs to make sure they feel real pain. Third, we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that incremental sanctions will deter Putin from trying to install a puppet government in Kyiv.”

A statement issued by Kevin Mccarthy, the Republican leader in the House, accused Mr Biden of “appeasement” and called for “crippling penalties” on Russian industry

Mitch Mcconnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, blamed Mr Biden for emboldening Mr Putin by mishandling the Afghanistan withdrawal last year.

He said the Russian leader would not have advanced “had we not precipitously withdrawn from Afghanistan”.

Marco Rubio, the Republican senator, said the US should have sanctioned Russia’s biggest banks “in the middle of Putin’s speech”.

He said: “We are wasting time on incremental and symbolic sanctions when we know for a fact he [Mr Putin] has made an irreversible decision on Ukraine and is already executing the plan.”

Democrats have praised Mr Biden for uniting Nato allies in their response.

Steny Hoyer, the Democrat leader in the House, said: “These unified steps make clear that the United States and our allies are not bluffing in our determination to inflict serious and painful consequences on Russia.”

Senator Chris Coons, a close ally of the president, said Mr Biden had been “strong” and that additional “waves” of sanctions would be “crushing” for Russia.

Mr Biden has steered clear of cutting Russia out of Swift, the international bank transaction system.

Democrats said it was among the “mother of all sanctions” and a US official said it “remains an option”.

A senior Biden administration official said: “We are ready to press a button to take further action on the very largest Russian financial institutions.”

But Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator, said the actions taken so far were “woefully inadequate” and called for a “sanctions regime from hell”.

‘These sanctions should have happened before Putin further invaded Ukraine, not after’

He said: “This is a critical moment in history and President Biden is not seizing the moment.”

The Republican opposition to Mr Biden’s approach has been complicated by the continuing influence of Donald Trump’s America First foreign policy, which has led some to suggest the US should be less involved than it is.

It came as a Gallup poll showed 36 per cent of Americans thought Mr Biden was doing a good job on the “situation with Russia”, while 55 per cent disapproved of his performance.

Only 64 per cent of Democrats, and 35 per cent of independent voters, approved of Mr Biden’s handling of the crisis.

Last night, Mr Biden imposed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline “and its corporate officers”.

The move came after Germany announced it would halt certification of the pipeline, in a blow to Mr Putin.

Mr Biden said: “Since Russia began deploying troops to the Ukrainian border, the United States has worked closely with our allies and partners to deliver a strong, unified response.”