ND’s senators push for stricter sanctions against Russia

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - President Joe Biden announced sanctions Thursday in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Russia’s economy has been hurt by sanctions from countries around the world, as their stocks and currency have tanked since the invasion. However, North Dakota’s Congressional delegation doesn’t think President Biden has been harsh enough on Russia.

“The Biden sanctions so far have not gone far enough. The United States needs to lead with full-blown sanctions on Russia. We need to make it impossible, if we can, for them to sell their energy. It is their only source of revenue. Europe can’t, at the same time, be threatened by Russian aggression, as we’ve seen in Ukraine, and be buying their energy from Russia,” said Senator John Hoeven.

In addition to more sanctions, Senator John Hoeven also wants the president to allow energy producers to export more resources to Europe, which would benefit North Dakota’s energy industry. Another sanction Hoeven is calling for is to ban Russia from SWIFT, which is a high-security international banking network.