Rogers: Putin ‘absolutely not looking for a way out’

House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said Sunday that he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to expand his influence in Ukraine.

{mosads}“He is absolutely not looking for a way out,” Rogers said on “Fox News Sunday.”

With Russia having taken over Crimea, despite the opposition of Western leaders, Rogers said that Putin could seek a “land bridge” in Ukraine to another pro-Russian area, Transnistria, in Moldova. Putin brought up Transnistria in his Friday phone call with President Obama, according to a readout from the Kremlin.

“I doubt Putin called because he thought he wasn’t in the best spot in that particular conversation,” Rogers said.

Rogers said he was also concerned about a troop buildup near Georgia, which fought a 2008 war with Russia, and said he was worried about the type of troops Putin had along the country’s eastern border with Ukraine.

“Nobody really knows – they don’t know what his intentions are, other than you can gauge by history,” Rogers said, who later added Russia had all the troops and equipment “that they would need to go into Ukraine.”