Florida Republicans pursue new sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Florida lawmakers have proposed a slew of new sanctions and other measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez and Sen. Marco Rubio, two Republicans from Florida, last week introduced the Preventing Usurpation of Power and Privileges by Extralegal Territories’ Sedition Act, or PUPPETS Act, to target the pro-Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine whose conflict with the Ukrainian government in Kyiv was used by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a pretext for the invasion.
The bill would designate the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic as foreign terrorist organizations and sanction any individuals that assist in establishing puppet governments in Ukraine.
“Putin’s antics of fomenting political instability through proxy militias and puppet governments is textbook terrorism. It’s time for the United States to put a stop to Putin’s crony separatist groups from undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty and delegitimizing the Ukrainian people,” Gimenez, the former mayor of Miami-Dade County, said in a statement.
Gimenez has also crafted legislation to ban Russian aircraft from U.S. airspace, a move President Joe Biden’s administration made on its own last week. Miami is one of four U.S. destinations to which the Russian airline Aeroflot provided direct service from Moscow before the airspace restriction took effect.
Rubio has also introduced multiple bills aimed at weakening the Russian economy, including one that would prohibit institutional investor companies in the U.S. from investing their clients’ money in Russian securities and another bill that would enable the president to block property transactions in the U.S.
“Many Americans do not even realize that fund managers have placed their money in these Russian companies. My bill would change that, protecting American retirees and denying Russian companies a critical source of capital,” Rubio said last week.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has signed on as a co-sponsor to Rubio’s bills. He also backed a measure from Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., to restrict the importation of oil from Russia.
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 1:21 PM with the headline "Florida Republicans pursue new sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."
