Florida Republican Marco Rubio plans to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday to detail an eight-point plan for how the United States should respond to Russia's takeover of eastern Ukraine,
The New York Times reported.
He said hard-fought gains of the Cold War could be lost if the U.S. does not move to punish Moscow for its "grave violation" of Ukraine's national sovereignty.
Outlining his plan in Politico, Rubio wrote that President Barack Obama should start by labeling Russia's move "a military invasion."
Secondly, The president should send Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Kiev as a show of U.S. solidarity with Ukraine's new government.
Washington should convene an emergency NATO meeting. And the West should come up with a set of economic measures to aid Kiev's transition to democracy.
Third, the administration ought lead a boycott of the G-8 summit set for Sochi in June. And Russia should be expelled from the organization if it does not withdraw from the Ukraine.
As a fourth step, Rubio wants to suspend bargaining with Russia on all issues not connected to Ukraine.
Fifth, Washington and its allies should seek to pass a resolution in the United Nations Security Council that condemns Russia – and embarrass Moscow into vetoing it.
Sixth, the administration should accelerate the process to bring the Republic of Georgia into NATO and supply it with the arms it has asked for since the 2008 Russian invasion.
Seventh, the State Department should restrict visits to the United States by Russian officials and businessmen with ties to Vladimir Putin.
And lastly, the process of confirming Rose Gottemoeller as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security should be put on hold. The U.S. should not be considering arms-control with Russia under present circumstances. Moreover, Gottemoeller, has minimized Russian breaches of existing arms-control accords, Rubio concluded in his Politico article.
According to the Times, Rubio has sought to stake out a foreign policy stance for Republicans that rejects the isolationist approach of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, as well as the hawkish line espoused by Senator John McCain of Arizona.
Meanwhile, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tennessee Senator Bob Corker said that "Ever since the administration threw themselves in [Putin's] arms in Syria to keep from carrying out what they said they would carry out, I think he's seen weakness. These are the consequences."
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