Should U.S. Sanction Russia BEFORE Ukraine Invasion?

President Biden is predicting an imminent invasion by Russia into Ukraine any day now. The Biden Administration is sending even more United States troops to the Ukrainian border to engage in this conflict. Why is the Biden Administration willing to put American troops in harm’s way without first trying to prevent an invasion by imposing sanctions on Russia?

When President Biden was asked if he thinks that there will be a Russian invasion, he responded very confidently:

Yes, I do. My sense is it will happen within the next several days. . . . Because they have not moved any of their troops out, they’ve moved more troops in No. 1. No. 2, we have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they are prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.

Yet even though an invasion could happen any day now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken still claims the Biden Administration is trying to prevent it from happening. Sec. Blinken made an emergency stop in New York City to address the U.N. Security Council and said:

Now, I am mindful that some have called into question our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out. But let me be clear: I am here today, not to start a war, but to prevent one.

Except the Biden Administration has not done anything to prevent a war. They are preparing for what to do after the fact. ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell explained this backward thinking:

They keep saying a bloody war is around the corner. I have to say that if you really believe that a bloody war is around the corner, then you should be putting sanctions of all types to avoid the war. And we have yet to see Nord Stream 2 sanctions or SWIFT banking sanctions, there is a whole bunch you can do peacefully through tough diplomacy rather than just talk and wave the flag of war.

Ric summed up what the Biden Administration is thinking by making these public remarks:

I will say this, we cannot talk about what’s happening in Ukraine and the Biden response to it, without talking about Afghanistan. Because I believe that the disastrous withdrawal, and the embarrassment on the world stage, which really frightened our allies and others; I think that what is happening with the Biden team right now is they are scrambling to swing the pendulum back to pretend like they are tough. . . . It’s a way to cover their failures in Afghanistan. And I would argue they are only emphasizing the emotional aspect of the policy. It was emotional in Afghanistan. Now, they are overly aggressive with pretending like we are going to war. Yet the Ukrainians certainly aren’t saying, “Hey come help us stave off a war.” They are trying to say as the President of Ukraine said your policy isn’t working. You’re not deterring Russia and you’re killing our economy.

And with President Biden’s recent remarks, it seems that he knows that the U.S. is not deterring Russia. ACLJ Senior Military Analyst Wes Smith explained how the number of troops along with the type of equipment Putin is sending could lead to a full-scale invasion:

Well, the significance of the number is that is enough to launch an initial invasion. . . . It’s not just the number of troops, it’s the type of equipment. They have artillery, armor, and armored personnel carriers that we know that are there. This is not just the number of troops, but it’s the type of troops, and the type of weapons to go ahead and go in. . . . I am a little mystified . . . about why is President Biden being so public about predicting this when other nations are not?

We will continue to monitor this escalating situation and provide you with updates as they come.