Senator Ron Johnson: Putin will only pay attention to strength and resoluteness

Having denied arms provision to Ukraine, the USA sent a signal to Moscow that it may continue the aggression with impunity.

This came from a republican senator Ron Johnson’s CNN interview. The senator is a member of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Liga.net reports.

“All the sanctions and threats of sanctions have had very little effect. Vladimir Putin will only pay attention to actions, strength and resoluteness. Words will not affect him. This is exactly what we are hearing in Ukraine”, - he stated.

In the senator’s opinion, the weakness of the US reaction to the events in Ukraine convinces Putin that America is not interested in protecting it. “It is easy to advise on the past, but when Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was in the USA and quite reasonably asked to provide small arms and ammunition – simply as a token of strength and support to Ukrainians on the part of the USA – unfortunately we did not. No one could tell, what would have been, had we behaved differently, but I think that this is exactly the kind of weakness that gave Putin a signal that he could with impunity keep on doing whatever he wanted”, - Johnson pointed out.

The politician also pointed out that in his opinion without the US leadership the world has become more dangerous. “America should be a leader. We are lacking this now. We are just not a leader in the world anymore. That is why the world has become much, much more dangerous”, - Johnson noted.

It also came out on Monday that on Thursday the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee will have hearings on Russia’s destabilization in Ukraine. “Vladimir Putin is the driving force behind the destabilization in Ukraine. It is important for American people to understand the influence of the Russian aggression on the USA interests. These hearings will give the Committee members an opportunity to ask leading Department of State and Finance Ministry officials about Russia’s actions and the administration’s strategy on countering those”, - the statement on the Senate committee’s web-site reads.