‘No silver bullet’ on Ukraine, King says

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) on Sunday said there is “no silver bullet” to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops from the Crimean Peninsula, but he said a combination of sanctions, military support and energy policy should play a role in the effort to ease tensions over Ukraine.

{mosads}“I think we should make it clear there will be firm sanctions,” King said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” I think we should freeze the assets of any of the Russian oligarchs in this country, people close to Putin.”

President Obama last week authorized new sanctions on Russia that will restrict travel and freeze the assets of people the Obama administration identifies as being involved in the invasion of Crimea.

Obama said the sanctions were punishment for Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s “territorial integrity,” and those named in the order were guilty of “stealing the assets of the Ukrainian people.”

“We have to increase military support for the Baltic states, increase military support for Poland and Hungary, and make it absolutely clear that these sanctions will be enforced. And we have to make sure the allies are working together,” King added.

“There’s no silver bullet. We have to sustain it, keep it going,” King said.

King also said the lifting of some of the restrictions on exports of natural gas “has to be an integral part of it.”

“We have to increase exports of liquid natural gas [LNG],” he said. “Countries like England and others, Germany, cannot be forced to rely on Russia for the LNG they get.”

“We have enough to supply so many countries in the world, and we should right now start lifting restrictions. We should begin the exporting as quickly as we can,” he added.