Dorchester Reporter
By Gintautas Dumcius, Managing Editor
As Vladimir Putin moved Russian troops into parts of eastern Ukraine where Russia-friendly populations are considerable, Congressman Stephen Lynch has been warning of the start of a new Cold War as the dictator presses for a return to what he regards as the glory days of the Soviet Union.
In reacting to Putin’s aggression, US officials have turned to sanctions after diplomatic efforts appear to have fallen short.
Lynch, a South Boston Democrat who also represents half of Dorchester and parts of the South Shore and is chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security, held a hearing as the Ukrainian drama unfolded last week. He also appeared on WCVB and CNN, where he issued warnings about what Putin was up to.
“If you look at what happened in Crimea, you know, they denied what they were doing right till it happened,” Lynch said on CNN, referring to Russia’s invasion and annexation of that peninsula seven years ago. “So, there’s very little trust there. That seems to be the way Putin operates.”
Asked if there is still a diplomatic path forward, Lynch laid it on Putin. The European Union and NATO are “willing partners” in dialogue, he said, though there is a danger of “negotiating ourselves into an invasion here.”
The US and its European allies should keep a united front, he said, and not let Putin slowly subdivide Ukraine.
There are 44 million people in Ukraine, Lynch noted. “This is about their sovereignty,” he said. “And this is about Putin’s ideology of wanting to recreate some iteration of the former Soviet Union.”
Among the elected leaders who represent Boston on Capitol Hill, Lynch has been the one most out front in recent weeks when it comes to reacting to Putin’s moves.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley shares representation of Boston with Lynch. On Tuesday, her spokesman pointed to comments she had made earlier in February. She said then that harsh sanctions and increases in military aid to Ukraine will “only raise tensions and hurt” diplomatic efforts. “We can and must prioritize diplomacy and de-escalation,” she said.
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren has voiced support for President Biden’s approach on sanctions. US Sen. Ed Markey has sounded a similar note and said US officials should focus on finding an “off-ramp” as tensions escalate.
“If Russia invades, it would be the first major war in Europe since 1945. We cannot allow that to happen,” Markey told WCVB on Monday.
But in a separate interview at the station, Lynch said that economic sanctions might not be a threat to Putin. “Inadvertently, I think, that Putin is attracted by that offer, and that he would gladly trade some economic pain for acquiring the 44 million people in Ukraine as his subjects.”
On Wednesday, Markey called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “savage and illegal violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
Markey voiced support for Biden’s move to sanction Putin, calling them “our best non-military option – to impose consequences on the Kremlin, Russia’s defense sector, and Putin’s petro-oligarch cronies for this blatant violation of international law.”
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