Putin To the U.S. and NATO: "Consequences That You Have Never Experienced in Your History."

Russian President Vladimir Putin officially declared war on Ukraine and a full-scale invasion is underway. Ten minutes after Putin released a pre-recorded speech laying out his intent to invade regions of Ukraine, rockets and missiles were fired.

In his speech, Putin threatened anyone who tries to interfere with this invasion:

Now a few important, very important words for those who may be tempted to intervene in ongoing events from the outside. Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history. We are ready for any development of events. All necessary decisions in this regard have been made. I hope that I will be heard.

In response to the invasion, several North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries have invoked Article 4 of the NATO charter. ACLJ Senior Military Analyst Wes Smith explained what this means:

Out of the 30 NATO countries, 4 of them today invoked Article 4 of the NATO charter – Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Poland is a former Warsaw Pact nation, the others are former Soviet Republics, they border Russia. And Article 4 is there if any country feels like their territory is being violated potentially or their political independence. If they believe they are threatened on either of those things – territory or independence – they can invoke Article 4. It means it calls for a mandatory meeting of all 30 member states immediately. And of course, the member states all have permanent representatives in Brussels. It’s called the North Atlantic Council, and they will meet. Usually what is a result of this is that more equipment and more troops are sent to those countries that are invoking Article 4.

So, there could be a possibility of sending more military personnel to other countries. Wes added what kind of engagement to expect from other countries:

Well for Ukraine it is total engagement. The threat that we don’t know the complete outcome is how far Putin will go after this. I don’t think he will attack another country right off, but you look at the former Balkan States . . . and the former members of the Soviet Republic that have invoked Article 4 of NATO, they are feeling threatened. What has happened is the world today is a much more dangerous place to live.

ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison explained how this impacts you and the American economy:

I think the economic impact particularly in the short run will indeed be huge. We are seeing forecasts of gas prices going up to  8 dollars per gallon of gas. . . . So, this will have a very significant impact on travel and . . . on the leisure industry, hotels, and it will have an indirect impact on food prices. So, for instance as petroleum prices rise, then transportation costs rise. So, at the end of the day the American people will pay a huge price, but they will be paying a price at least in part because the Biden Administration did not adequately forecast this problem.

So, for instance, we should’ve opened up all of our pipelines. We should’ve maintained energy independence. We should’ve kept a barrel of oil at about 40 dollars per barrel as opposed to about 100 dollars per barrel. And even the Biden Administration I think today would admit it made a strategic mistake in tapping the strategic oil reserve not because that was necessarily a mistake, but because we are sending oil at least as of November 2021, to India and China as opposed to the American people.

ACLJ Senior Counsel for Global Affairs and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (who has directly negotiated with Putin in the past) gave his take on the nature of this attack: 

Well, this is a big attack. It is highly complex. It is using every element of Russian power. . . . This is a high-end concerted effort to overthrow the regime in Ukraine. I think we have all seen this coming for weeks. We implored our Administration to do everything it could to deter and change the calculus for Vladimir Putin. Clearly, waiting to do the sanctions failed to do that. But Vladimir Putin has made this choice, it’s a war of aggression on his part. He needs to be made to pay the price for that.

Sec. Pompeo explained that this could be just the beginning of Russian aggression:

We have to remember history just a bit. He thinks of himself in many ways as Peter the Great. He wants to restore greater Russia. This isn’t the first time he has done this. He dropped troops into Syria, he put private forces into Libya, he took a piece of Georgia, he took Crimea, so this is part of a pattern. Move and see what the response from the West is, if the cost is relatively low, then continue the mission. The mission being, creating a Russian buffer space and the recreation of at least a faux-Soviet Union. This is his legacy and what he is hoping to achieve. And today he has not paid a price for this.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of the Russian/Ukraine conflict.  

Watch the full broadcast below.

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