Retiring Rep. Jackie Speier, a San Mateo Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, says she thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin has "baked into his calculations" of invading nearby Ukraine the potential for the kind of sanctions the U.S. and other countries announced on Thursday that they would level.
The seven-term congresswoman told KCBS Radio's Rebecca Corral in an interview on Thursday afternoon that American sanctions and those from a "united set of Western democracies" must be "extraordinarily severe" to halt the Russian invasion. Even then, she said she was fearful sanctions won't deter Putin's ambitions.
"It's going to be a ratcheting up on a daily basis to try and get Putin's attention," Speier, who also serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told KCBS Radio. "But, frankly, I think this has been so scripted and premediated and has been in the works for months that nothing short of the gross loss of life of both civilians and soldiers in Ukraine is going to be the result."
"I think it's been baked into his calculations," Speier added.
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the latest round of U.S. sanctions, which the Treasury Department said target almost "80 percent of all banking assets in Russia." Speier said Thursday that, in all, 10 banks with $1.4 trillion in assets have been sanctioned. The U.S. also banned exports of microelectronics to the country, which Biden said would "impair their ability to compete in a high tech, 21st century economy."
The European Union, U.K,, Japan, South Korea and Australia all also imposed sanctions, which didn't include cutting Russia out of the SWIFT banking system. SWIFT allows banks to transfer money to one another around the world. Ukrainian leaders, and some politicians in other countries including the U.S., have called for removing Russia from the system. Biden said the U.S. and EU could revisit doing so.
Speier, echoing Biden's press conference, said Putin "wants Ukraine to be part of the Soviet Union." According to historians, Putin's public comments about the invasion and prior to it indicate a harkening for Imperial Russia rather than the Soviet Union. Putin on Monday said Ukraine was "a country created by Russia."
No matter the source of his ambitions, Speier said she is "fearful" it could spill into a wider conflict, particularly if Russia attacks a NATO country. Under Article 5, all NATO members must come to the defense of another if they are attacked.
"I've been sickened all day long, and it just harkens back to another time pre-World War II. I think we're all fearful this is going to be World War III," Speier said, adding she doesn't think Putin "goes that far" as to use nuclear weapons.
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