Former US Ambassador to Russia Compares Ratcheting Up Sanctions on Russia to Accumulating Parking Tickets

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul compared ratcheting up sanctions to accumulating parking tickets.

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday, McFaul said “there are way more sanctions that should be implemented” against Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

“Oil and gas sanctions first and foremost,” he added.

McFaul also called for Russia to be labeled a state sponsor of terrorism. Current U.S. state sponsors of terrorism include Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Syria.

While “it’s great what’s been done in the past” on sanctions against Russia, said McFaul, “every week that Russia is still invading Ukraine, there need to be new sanctions.”

“And think about it this way. It is like a parking ticket, right. Here at Stanford, if you park in the wrong place, you get a ticket that day. But if your car’s still there this the next day, guess what, you get another ticket,” added McFaul. “And I think that ratcheting concept is what we need with sanctions until Putin finally leaving Ukraine.”

In a Washington Post column this week, McFaul called for additional sanctions on Russia.

Too many Russian oligarchs close to Putin and too many Russian officials working for Putin still have not been sanctioned. The present approach places too much discretionary burden on governments implementing sanctions as they try to decide which individuals deserve to be sanctioned and which do not.

For that reason, rather than targeting specific individuals, the world should shift some sanctions to target positions in the Russian government, state-owned enterprises, political parties, and state-controlled media.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

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