Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has introduced an amendment that would trigger a cascade of sanctions against top Russian officials, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, major financial institutions, sovereign debt transactions and more in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Why it matters: U.S. officials have been sounding the alarm about Russia's massive military buildup on the eastern border of Ukraine. The sanctions threat is intended to serve as a powerful deterrent against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Driving the news: Menendez's proposal was introduced late Thursday night as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass defense-spending bill on which the Senate will vote after the Thanksgiving break.
- It would require President Biden to impose sanctions and visa bans against top Russian military and intelligence officials engaged in planning or executing an invasion of Ukraine, and authorizes additional military assistance to Kyiv.
- The amendment also calls for sanctions against Russian banks, state-owned enterprises, and the critical oil, gas and mineral sectors. It would ban primary and secondary sovereign debt transactions, which would deal a major blow to the Russian economy.
The intrigue: The amendment would sanction any company or corporate officer involved in planning or operating Nord Stream 2, a pending natural gas pipeline that will allow Russia to circumvent Ukraine and deliver energy directly to Europe via Germany....
- Senate Republicans have been pushing for a vote on their own amendment to sanction the pipeline project now — before any potential Russian invasion.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took to Twitter this week to publicly plead with senators to back that amendment