As the U.S. Senate Works on a sanctions package to deter Russia from invading Ukraine, including imposing severe punishments in the event an invasion is carried out, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski spoke on the Senate floor on the additional steps the Senate should take to address the situation. In her address, she spoke to the aspects of the crisis that have received less attention so far, including how an invasion could destabilize the Arctic, how impacts of poor energy policy in the U.S. strengthens Russia’s hand, and the need to explore sanctions on all sectors of the Russian economy that the U.S. can influence, such as restricting imports of Russian seafood.
Later in the day, Sen. Jim Risch, Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act with Sen. Murkowski as an original cosponsor. The NYET Act, a Russian sanctions package, includes a provision based on standalone legislation introduced last week by Sens. Dan Sullivan and Murkowski to ban Russia seafood imports into the United States. Russia has banned seafood imports since 2014.