Senator Tommy Tuberville says President Joe Biden’s sanctions on Russia came too little too late. “We probably should have put sanctions on money banks five or six months ago to just let them know, ‘Hey! This is how it’s going to affect. This is how it’s going to feel,’” Tuberville said. “You put sanctions on after the fact, they’re not going to turn back around and come back where they came from. They’re going to stay right where they’re at.”
Tuberville briefly spoke about the increasing tensions at the Russian-Ukrainian border during his Washington Update at the Von Braun Center Tuesday afternoon.
“This is not going to be a war that you’re going to see in Ukraine like we’ve seen in other places,” Tuberville assured the crowd. “I’m hoping we don’t see one drop of blood — of American blood — spilled in Ukraine, but you got bullies across the world, and Putin is one of them.”
He went over his visit at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, where he met with world leaders.
“It was amazing, but you could cut the tension with a knife,” he said.
Among the world leaders was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he was disappointed by the lack of help from allied nations.
“We’re getting ready to fight. We don’t want anybody to fight for us. We’ll do our own fighting! Just support us,” Tuberville recalled Zelenskyy saying.
Tuberville said it’s important for the U.S. to help Ukraine as much as possible by providing weapons and funding for emergency equipment. Huntsville plays a major role in that, as the Redstone Arsenal is in charge of weapon supplies for allies around the world.
After the Washington Update, Tuberville released a statement calling on other U.S. senators and allies to “ensure Russia pays a heavy price for Putin’s aggression.” He called for sanctions that would “cripple Russia’s economy,” but more importantly, he called for an investment in the U.S. military.
“We are far behind,” Tuberville said. “We’re not far behind Russia. We’re not far behind anybody, except China.”
Tuberville said we’re behind because the U.S. has been putting money into 20-year wars, but now that that’s over, the investment should go into the military.
“We need a killing machine. That’s what our military is about,” Tuberville said. “We want people to be afraid of us. We want people to understand we want peace through strength.”
The senator is working on the National Defense Authorization Act, or military budget, for this year. He said part of that budget includes “things” in Huntsville that will be built.
