lebanon director for the white house, also the host of oh, my world. and spokesperson for the u.s. treasury. i want you to comment on this possibility of russia defaulting on its loans, how significant would that be? i m afraid putin and his regime have already done plan b, c, d and e for sanction proofing, and we have already seen them have success in getting around sanctions. this move could have some impact, but the only major impact, medium to long term that we know has a chance to stop the
regime have already done plan b, c, d, and e for sanction-proofing, and we ve seen them already have significant success in getting around sanctions. this would indeed this new move could indeed have some impact, but the only major impact medium to long-term that s important to understand about sanctions the only medium to long-term impact that we know has a chance to stop the war and really crippling russia s economy is a total embargo with secondary sanctions on gas and oil. and that, we re not there yet. the europeans are stalling, particularly some european member states. and so it s good. it s an important move, this one, if it takes place, but it s not enough, i m afraid. hager, i want to know if you agree. i think i sort of heard you agreeing.
some sanction proofing for putin as well. they are big trading partners on energy, technology, and this will only continue to grow. i think the sanctions discussions means we are almost no where. and a lot of people were surprised when the president came out today and said that he believes that the sanctions are severe and as powerful as tanks and missiles and bullets. congresswoman democrat from michigan tweeted the following congress has a role in the coming days. we need to finalize a package of sanctions, grease the skids for more military aid to ukraine, and make clear that despite our differences, reasonable democrats and republicans are united in condemning russia s unwarranted aggression. it feels to me like at some point in the next several days t congress will have even toughere and now might be a good time for them to get on the same page.
don bass area. people had time to be ready for this. there s the argument too that the oligarchs as they were sort of less key now in the putin and his become the money. people refer to vladimir putin as possibly being one of the richest men in russia himself. which of course the kremlin denies. that plays into the broader concept of how damaging further sanctions could be. we have seen some oligarchs challenge sanctions against their wealth. and of course a lot of time to there s the possibility maybe that there would be the rich around him saying what you are embarking on could damage our wealth. but russian officials heard too saying oddly they haven t accepted they ll do anything to merit sanctions. it would be okay. and the sanction proofing of the economy appears to have been under way to some degree. that speaks to how cut off from ordinary people the people making the decisions maybe. they feel we can bare this.
many of us had been talking about the need to take strong action against russia at the early part of the biden administration but it didn t happen, obviously. it will take time. what happened in the past year while the biden administration refused to move, the cronies of putin and putin himself have had the opportunity to do some sanction proofing of their own lives. so even though the white house is determined now to move in on about seven families and putin himself in terms of punishing sanctions. i believe there is still money that they ve got squirreled away to protect themselves. i don t think they will be on the streets anytime soon. trace: we have found iran, north korea have gotten around the sanctions and there is a way russia will get around them at least to a certain extent as well. great to see you thank you for coming on. thank you.