House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin as a ‘tyrant’ on Wednesday and hinted that no one — not even the authoritarian strongman himself — among the Kremlin elites would be spared from harsh economic sanctions in response.
She and three other lawmakers held a press conference at the Capitol after returning from the Munich Security Conference, where all eyes were on Putin as he gave the green light for Russian troops to enter Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
The California Democrat said the Russia leader is ‘probably the richest man in the world’ and said President Joe Biden will continue to ‘follow the money’ if Kremlin troops do not immediately cease what the international community has called an invasion.
A short while later the president announced sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Germany and Russia.
But Pelosi’s hardline message was undercut by points during her remarks where she began to ramble, including two instances seeming to mix up Ukraine and Hungary.
The first occurred when she was describing leaders at the security summit in Munich expressing concern over the potential ramifications of further Russian military action into its neighbor. She named the Central European nation of Hungary but went on to describe Ukraine’s borders — before appearing to correcting herself.
‘Well if you look at the map, and you see Hungary and you see how it is encircled: Russia, Belarus, Crimea — which they have taken over but you know it’s still a danger now to Ukraine,’ Pelosi said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to reporters after returning from a Congressional delegation to the Munich Security Conference
She added, ‘And then you see Poland and Romania and all of those countries, just budding Russian influence.’
While denouncing Putin’s greed a short while later, Pelosi again almost bungled the two countries.
The 81-year-old lawmaker claimed the Ukrainian people were fundamentally opposed to the Kremlin’s reign because they were pro-democracy. However, she caught herself nearly praising Hungarians instead.
‘Putin is probably the richest man in the world. He has these palatial residences –that’s really what got people in trouble in Russia, because they showed the arrogance of the wealth, with which he lived,’ Pelosi began.
Then she slipped: ‘So it’s about — what is this about? The people of Hung — em, many of us have visited Ukraine and have seen that they love democracy.’
But she pressed on, suggesting Biden’s sanctions will continue to ‘follow the money.’
‘They do not want to live under Vladimir Putin. He does not want the Russian people to see what democracy looks like, and therefore he wants to bring them under his domain and his domain,’ Pelosi said.
‘So when he and his oligarchs — and it’s all about, follow the money in this, and that’s what the sanctions are about. Follow the money.’
Pelosi said all the world leaders at the summit agreed that ‘the attack on the Ukraine by the Russians is an attack on democracy, an attack on democracy.’
Ukraine was a central focus of the global security summit. (pictured: An Ukrainian serviceman checks the situation on the position near the Katerynivka village not far from pro-Russian militants controlled city of Luhansk, Ukraine, February 23)
A Russian military truck moves along a road in Russia’s southern Rostov region, which borders the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, on February 23
House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff, who was also in Munich, said Putin is ‘terrified by the prospect of a democracy at his border.’
Putin sparked international outrage earlier this week when Russia formally recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as independent states. The area has been at the center of an ongoing armed conflict between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Although a third of the region is under rebel control, Putin said on Tuesday that he recognized them as independent states in their entirety — raising alarms about a possible clash between Kiev’s troops and the Russian military if they proceed further into the region. The key port city of Mariupol, for example, is in Donetsk but is currently under Ukraine’s control.
Putin suggested the way for Ukraine to stop the crisis was to either negotiate with the separatists, which Kiev has refused, or abandon hopes of joining NATO and demilitarize.
Alluding to Russia’s efforts to interfere in the American election, Pelosi charged of Putin on Wednesday: ‘This is the same tyrant who attacked our democracy in 2016.’
An Ukrainian serviceman reacts while on guard at a position near the Katerynivka village not far from pro-Russian militants controlled city of Luhansk
Putin’s recognition of the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent has sparked fears of military clashes between Russian troops in the pro-Russian area and Kiev’s forces
‘The same tyrant who is opposed to democracy and wants to trivialize, downgrade it, in the eyes of the Russian people,’ she said.
Among her closing comments, Pelosi pledged that Biden ‘is doing the sanctions, he has a full picture of all of this.’
The president went a step further on Wednesday, imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Germany and Russia and its corporate officers.
‘These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. As I have made clear, we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate,’ Biden said in a statement.
‘Through his actions, President Putin has provided the world with an overwhelming incentive to move away from Russian gas and to other forms of energy. I want to thank Chancellor Scholz for his close partnership and continued dedication to holding Russia accountable for its actions.’
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pumped the breaks on the pipeline earlier this week in response to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
On Tuesday Biden announced sanctions against two major Russian banks that the White House said ‘hold more than $80 billion in assets and finance the Russian defense sector and economic development,’ as well as sanctions targeting individuals within Putin’s orbit. He also put a halt on trading of Russian debt to stem the flow of Western dollars.
The president said the sanctions package was just the ‘first tranche’ if Putin did not immediately halt his invasion.
‘Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called ‘countries’ on territory that belonged to his neighbors?’ Biden said.
During her press conference Pelosi defended Biden’s sanctions as ‘appropriate’ — though not every member of her caucus agrees he went far enough.
‘Sanctions just have to go a lot stronger and a lot more personal,’ Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said on Fox News Wednesday. ‘Of course we’re going to do banks. Of course we’re going to do certain sectors but get those oligarchs that support Putin, their wives, their mistresses, their ability for their kids to go to foreign universities.’
‘You can target these folks that are holding Putin up in a much more severe way that I’d like to see in the coming days.’
