As the war on Ukraine continues, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey is calling for tougher sanctions on Russia.

As a ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Toomey holds considerable influence.

President Joe Biden has led the international response to Russia’s invasion with severe sanctions targeting the Russian economy and against Russia’s central bank, including freezing its assets in the United States. Biden has sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin personally.

Still, in an interview Tuesday with the Tribune-Review, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania said he thinks sanctions can go further, including shutting down Russian exports — namely Russian oil and gas.

“That’s not sustainable for Putin. And I think that’s the price he needs to pay for this outrageous attack on a free, sovereign, innocent country,” he said. “We shouldn’t be importing (oil and gas) from Russia.

”My goodness, we’re sending the money to Putin to finance his war machine while it slaughters civilians. That shouldn’t be happening. I think we should be going after the Russian energy sector.”

For its part, the Biden administration says it’s keeping open the option of sanctioning Russia’s oil and gas industry if the situation in Ukraine worsens.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, said he supports Biden’s strategy.

“President Biden and allied and partnered leaders have acted quickly to impose crushing financial sanctions while meeting Ukraine’s initial security assistance needs,” Casey told the Tribune-Review in an email. “I will continue to support the Biden administration as it builds on these initial steps and will work to ensure that the Ukrainian people have what they need to protect their homeland.”

Toomey said the U.S. needs to step up its efforts to supply Ukrainian freedom fighters with weapons.

“The most important weapons are the weapons the Ukrainians can use to destroy tanks and armored vehicles and to shoot down Russian aircraft,” he said. “So, that would be Javelin and Stinger missiles. We’ve sent a lot, but the Ukrainians are going through them. They’re using them. So, they need to be replenished, and those seem to me to be among the most important weapons.”

The question that remains is whether the combination of sanctions on Russia and supplying weapons to Ukraine will be enough to make Putin stop the war.

“That’s a very good question,” Toomey said. “Of course, I can’t get in the mind of Vladimir Putin. I do worry that having committed what he has done so far, he’s probably going to stay the course. And if it becomes a war of attrition, the Russians obviously have more resources to bring to bear.

“What’s important in that case is for the world, including Putin, including (Chinese leader) Xi Jinping to conclude that this was a huge strategic mistake for Putin, that this was a blunder that should never be repeated as we cripple their economy for what they’ve done.”

Toomey said if Ukraine falls, it will not only be a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but also a disaster for Russia.

“Just think about it — what does Putin do next?” he said. “In that scenario, where he topples the government of Ukraine and presumably installs a puppet regime, what does he do? If he leaves, the Ukrainian people will overthrow that regime because they don’t want to be ruled by a puppet of Putin. If the Russian forces stay, they’ll be subject to endless guerrilla campaigns because they are not welcome. It’s a disaster for Putin.”

Toomey said it’s hard to know whether Putin is vulnerable within Russia.

“When you have a strongman authoritarian who murders his political opponents, jails them, rounds up demonstrators in the streets, it’s very hard to know how vulnerable he actually is,” he said. “We just don’t know how strong his grip on power is and how much that would change if there was large-scale social unrest and an economic collapse.”

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