President Joe Biden appeared to contradict previous messaging from the White House by insisting that “sanctions never deter,” and, “I did not say that in fact the sanctions would deter him” while berating a reporter on Thursday.
“Sir, deterrents didn’t work. What makes you think Vladimir Putin will alter course based on the action you’ve taken today?” a CBS reporter asked Biden during a press conference in Belgium.
“Let’s get something straight,” Biden snapped. “If you remember, if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say that in fact the sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter.”
Reporter: “Sir, deterrence didn’t work. What makes you think Vladimir Putin will alter course based on the action you’ve taken today?”
Biden: “I did not say that in fact the sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter.” pic.twitter.com/A3GnLAvxpN— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2022) March 24, 2022
“The maintenance of sanctions, the maintenance of sanctions, increasing the pain and the demonstration why I asked for this NATO meeting today is to be sure that after a month we will sustain what we are doing, not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year. That’s what will stop him,” the President continued.
The reporter then asked, “Do you believe the actions today will have an impact on making Russia change course in Ukraine?”
“That’s not what I said. You’re playing a game with me,” Biden said. “The answer is no. I think what happens is we have to demonstrate — the purpose — the single most important thing is for us to stay unified and the world continue to focus on what a brute this guy is and all the innocent people’s lives are being lost and ruined and what’s going on.”
Biden’s comments struck a different tone than previous statements from the White House.
Today Biden again said that sanctions would not “deter” Putin from invading Ukraine.
His administration said the EXACT OPPOSITE for weeks.
ROLL THE TAPE! pic.twitter.com/C4ffAnEz3d
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 24, 2022
On February 20, Vice President Kamala Harris stated, “The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence.”
When asked if she believed the sanctions would actually deter Putin, she replied, “Absolut- — we strongly believe — and remember also that the sanctions are a product not only of our perspective as the United States but a shared perspective among our Allies. And the Allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one, especially because – remember, also – we still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment.”
“Sanctions are not an end to themselves. They serve a higher purpose. And that purpose is to deter and prevent,”another White House official said on February 22. “They’re meant to prevent and deter a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that could involve the seizure of major cities, including Kyiv. They’re meant to prevent large-scale human suffering that could involve tens of thousands of casualties in a conflict.”
