SALEM — In a press conference at his office Thursday afternoon, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said the Russian Federation’s invasion into Ukraine Wednesday night was the prelude to the largest war in Europe since World War II.
“We will look back at this moment as a defining moment in the history of Europe and NATO,” Moulton said. “The next few hours, days and months will determine the future of peace in Europe and perhaps around the world.”
The Salem Democrat, who represents Massachusetts’s Sixth Congressional District, slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, and said Putin did not understand that the gravity of his actions could lead to several deaths of Ukrainians and Russians alike.
Moulton said he supports additional sanctions on Russia, removing the country from The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and called for a sharper focus on Russian oligarchs and their wealth.
“They have to be tough, tough sanctions,” Moulton said. “I understand the Biden administration has announced that five oligarchs have been targeted. I want to see 500.”
Additionally, Moulton said he would support President Joe Biden using cyberattacks on the Russian military to deter further advances on Ukraine. He said the world is entering a different era of warfare and the use of cyber-technologies plays a role both internationally and domestically.
“I think that it’s time for tech companies, especially the Big Five internet companies (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) to do whatever they can for the Ukrainian people to ensure whatever freedoms they have on the internet,” he said. “There’s also work that they can do to target Russia and tell the Russian people the cost of what their tyrannical leader is doing.”
While he did support cyberattacks, Moulton said he, the Biden administration, and other congressional leaders in the U.S. House and Senate do not support deploying American ground troops to Ukraine or Russia.
Moulton was not the only Massachusetts politician to weigh in on the events in Europe on Thursday.
During an event with the Industrial Division of Communication Workers of America (IUE-CWA) Local 201 union in Lynn, U.S Sen. Edward Markey criticized Putin and the invasion of Ukraine.
“It is unacceptable,” Markey said. “The United States and their allies must continue to tighten sanctions on financial systems and put crippling sanctions on the plutocrats of Russia.”
Markey also said the U.S. shall deny Russia revenue, specifically by not buying Russian-made oil.
“The United States mustn’t let the German to Russian Pipeline, Nord Stream 2, get built,” Markey said. “It is also crucial that in the United States we use solar and battery-powered electricity to reduce and also end our dependence upon the Russian Business Model of exporting gas around the world.”
The Biden administration is planning to call upon global leaders to release oil reserves due to costs of Brent Crude Oil rising to $100 a barrel.
Despite both politicians supporting renewable energy, both Markey and Moulton agree that this is the correct course of action in the short term.
