Sen. Menendez praises Trump Administration move to expel Russian agents

The Trump Administration’s announcement on Monday that 60 Russian diplomats would be expelled from the country, and the Russian consulate in Seattle would be closed, in response to chemical weapons attacks on British soil met applause from U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ).

The United Kingdom has concluded that the Kremlin attempted to assassinate former Russian spy Sergei Skripal using a chemical nerve agent in a public square on March 4 in Salisbury, England. Russia has denied responsibility for the attack, which left Skripal, his daughter, and a responding officer ill.

“Russian regime behavior against our country and our allies cannot go unchallenged and today’s expulsion of Russian officials and the closure of its Seattle consulate sends an important message,” Menendez, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said. “I am also very pleased to see other allies step in and show a united front against this latest offense by the Kremlin.”

Twenty-one governments around the world expelled Russian agents in response to the attacks. The attacks, coupled with election interference in the United States and abroad, demonstrate that Vladimir Putin “has proven clearly to be an aggressor who does not share our interests or our values.”

“In light of (Monday’s) action, I urge President Trump and Secretary-designate (Michael) Pompeo to fully acknowledge the Kremlin threat and take the long overdue steps to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to counter the Russian state’s reprehensible behavior against our country, our interests, and our allies,” Menendez said. “It is long past time for the administration to take this national security threat seriously, and I once again call for the full implementation of mandatory sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that Congress passed over seven months ago.”