Arizona Senator Mark Kelly on sanctions on Russia and immigration

Source: KYMA-TV Yuma, AZ

today at 11:36 AM Published August 10, 2025 12:09 PM


(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about sanctions on Russia for the ongoing war in Ukraine. According to Brennan, President Donald Trump could "could lift some, but not all, sanctions on Russia, unless Congress agrees to do it," prompting her to ask Senator Kelly if there's an appetite to lift them, to which he said:

"I don't have an appetite to lift them. Putin continues to execute an illegal war where he is intentionally killing women, children, old people. I visited Ukraine several months ago, went to a veterans hospital where nurses there just witnessed horrible atrocities. So, I think, if anything...we need to continue to put the pressure on Putin, on Russia. Make them pay for this illegal war, attacking our NATO ally. And I've got to say, I know you talked to Mark Rutte earlier, and the ambassador about the visit on Friday in Alaska. And, I hope we got something out of this. Putin is a war criminal. This is not a show of strength to allow him to fly into the United States, to land here, to negotiate with our president. I don't know for certain...I don't know what was the ground rules that were set for this negotiation, but I would expect that this administration should have extracted something for this visit."

Brennan then followed by reporting that "there was a US directive in recent weeks that all Russia-Ukraine peace negotiation information should not be shared with our partners who are part of the Five Eyes," like Australia and the United Kingdom. This led her to ask Kelly, since he sits on the Intelligence Committee, if he was aware of the directive, and what the directive indicates, and Kelly responded saying:

"I was not aware of it. We have a special relationship with those Five Eyes partners, and I think that relationship makes all of us collectively safer. So, if it was up to me, we would continue to share that information with those allies.

Read more: https://kyma.com/decision-2024/arizona-politics/2025/08/10/arizona-senator-mark-kelly-on-sanctions-on-russia-and-immigration/