US progressive Rep Ilhan Omar said that she would vote against a ban on Russian-imported oil, warning it would not end well.
The Minnesota Democrat and whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus told The Hill’s online television show Rising on Tuesday that a ban on Russian oil would have a “devastating impact” on the Russian people and on Europe.
“I think that, again, when we are having these conversations, they can’t be about just the immediate gratifying response that we want to come up with,” she said. “Whether it is politically or morally, we have to think about what this means a year from now, what this means two years, three years from now. And I think ultimately, this is not going to end well for the actual people of Russia and it’s not going to end well for the people of Europe.”
The opposition comes despite the fact that members of both parties, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, support a ban on Russian-imported oil. President Joe Biden also announced the ban later on Tuesday.
Ms Omar said that she supported sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies rather than on the Russian people.
“I think when you engage in an immoral war, there should be consequences,” she said. “But do I think that the broad-based sanctions that we are imposing on Russia is going to have a devastating impact on Putin? No. I think they are going to have a devastating impact on the people.”
The Minnesota Democrat and member of the progressive ‘Squad’ said it was not possible for the United States to say it supports Russian people demonstrating against Mr Putin’s war while also supporting measures that would devastate their lives.
“And I think there has to be a balancing act and we can’t continue to deploy the same playbook that has failed us over and over again,” she said.
“We have an opportunity to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels,” she said. She also added that she was glad that the Biden administration officials would visit Venezuela and hoped they would see that sanctions against Venezuela have failed to weaken Nicolás Maduro’s government.
