‘We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing,’ Vice President Harris said of the US strategy to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that the Biden administration will maintain its existing policy regime toward Russian President Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of his invasion of Ukraine, despite its failure to discourage him.

The vice president made her remarks in an interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday morning, following President Joe Biden’s first formal State of the Union Address.

The host pressed Harris on whether the administration was considering a change in tactics because, despite the imposition of heavy sanctions by the United States, NATO allies, and other Western nations, Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine was still ongoing.

“So, what else can we throw at this since Putin has proven to be unafraid so far?” Guthrie inquired.

“Well, we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Harris said.

“For example, under the sanctions, we’ve targeted their financial institutions, their billionaires, and their homes and aircraft,” Harris stated.

“What we’re going to do is continue to stand firm with our friends in terms of reevaluating what we’re doing with sanctions,” she added.

According to the Daily Wire, Guthrie continued to press Harris on the possibility that the US might impose sanctions on Russia’s energy sector — or stop buying oil and gas from Russia entirely — in an effort to cut off any income from selling such products and further isolate the country from the west.

Guthrie stated that the best way to hit Putin “where it hurts” was to target the oil and gas industry, adding, “Some senators agree, Republican and Democrat — Senator Joe Manchin mentioned, for example, that the United States is still buying approximately 600,000 barrels of crude and other petroleum products every single day.” Is that an option?” Guthrie explained.

“Well, as you know… we praise Germany in terms of what it has done in terms of Nord Stream 2,” Harris answered, praising Germany but leaving out that the pipeline was only built in the first place because Biden allowed US sanctions imposed by previous President Donald Trump to lapse.

Biden also halted the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada after Trump authorized it after a decade of delay and billions of dollars spent by corporations to start building.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), whose state is a major producer of natural gas and other resources, called it “crazy” for the United States to continue purchasing Russian oil while Putin’s soldiers are invading a neighboring nation.