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Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is provoking NATO with his recent actions.
“We’re seeing incursions, possibly in Poland and Romania. He is sticking his thumb in the eye of NATO,” Crawford told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.”
“I don’t know if he is trying to invoke an Article 5 response, but he is in — in — really endangering his position,” the Arkansas Republican added. “And then further, this should be a wake-up call to the European Union and other nations that, look, we need to tighten up these sanctions. You’ve got to quit buying Russian oil. You’ve got to bring this guy to his knees.”
On Wednesday, Poland invoked the North Atlantic Treaty’s Article 4 in the wake of fighter jets shooting down multiple Russian drones that illegally came into Polish airspace.
Russia has said it didn’t purposefully send drones into the airspace, but the action has resulted in NATO allies’ outcry.
“What is clear is that the violation last night is not an isolated incident,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Wednesday. “Whether it was intentionally or not, it is absolutely reckless. It is absolutely dangerous.”
The recent tension in Eastern Europe also came amid the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. The president recently met with Putin in Alaska and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, D.C.
On Saturday, he took a stance on imposing sanctions on Russia, but pegged them to NATO members taking the same steps.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Saturday.
“As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” he added.
