Nikki Haley, America’s UN envoy, was dead right to label Russia’s seizure Sunday of three Ukrainian ships “outrageous” and “unlawful.” But it can’t end there.
Russia attacked the vessels — two naval ships and a tug boat — as they tried to pass through the Kerch Strait toward the Ukrainian port of Mariupol. Two dozen Ukrainian sailors are now captive, several injured.
The strait, which separates Crimea from Russia, is the only maritime access point to Ukraine’s economically vital coastline along the Sea of Azov.
Why’d Russia attack? To give Vladimir Putin a distraction from unrest back home, and to tighten the screws on Kiev, which wants to align with the West. Moscow already seized Crimea in 2014 and then sent in its “little green men” special-forces operatives to create a war of secession in eastern Ukraine.
Ample evidence shows that Russia’s to blame for the shoot-down of civilian Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, one of many atrocities Putin still has to answer for.
Tensions have grown for months as both nations ramped up their military presence in the Sea of Azov. Now Putin is claiming Russian control of the whole thing — though Moscow has no ownership rights over the strait or the sea.
No one, certainly not the United States, wants an all-out war with Russia. But Putin must be stopped, or at least made to pay a steep price until he returns the captive sailors and drops his Sea of Azov claims.
Washington should stand staunchly behind Kiev, boosting lethal military assistance. The West as a whole needs to squeeze Putin with new, tougher sanctions — target the strongman and his inner circle. Heck, hit his outer circle, too.
President Trump hoped for better relations with Moscow, but Putin clearly doesn’t want them. Trump’s only course now is to slam Putin until he changes course.