President Barack Obama has led the push for tough economic sanctions against Russia. In his State of the Union address earlier this month, Obama said that because of the sanctions, “Russia is isolated with its economy in tatters. That’s how America leads – not with bluster, but with persistent, steady resolve.”
Yet violence has escalated since the president’s speech. Just this past weekend, a rocket killed 30 civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Putin has denied that Russia is involved in the fighting.
For nearly a year, Portman has called for a tougher response by the West to the violence in Ukraine. Last May, Portman was in Kiev for the elections in which Ukraine’s voters elected Petro Poroshenko as president.
“As we have seen time and time again, Russian aggression will not be deterred until Ukraine has the military capabilities necessary to deter it,” Portman said in a statement.
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