Panetta: ‘Putin Has Taken off the Gloves — We’ve Got to Do the Same Thing’

Former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has taken off the gloves,” so America and NATO must do the same in response.

Anchor Chuck Todd said, “Let me start with what the mission is now. The mission 48 hours ago was to deter Putin. We have not deterred him from doing this. Now I assume the mission is to get him to retreat in some form or another. How do we do it?”

Panetta said, “The mission, Chuck, is to make sure that he pays a very heavy price for what he’s doing. That was the deterrent that we hoped would convince him not to invade. He has now invaded, and we have to make sure that he pays a heavy price for what he’s doing by every capability we have, working with our allies to respond. Sanctions, cyber, military assistance to the Ukrainians, reinforcing our forces in NATO, all of those areas I think are in play right now. This is — you know, Putin has taken off the gloves. We’ve got to do the same thing.”

He continued, “I think the goal right now is to further isolate him and isolate Russia and make clear that Russia is going to pay a price, and that’s why it’s important to implement these sanctions on exports.”

Panetta added, “I think right now we have to make very clear that Russia is going to become isolated from the global world because of what Putin is doing with this invasion. He’s got to feel it back in Russia. That’s the key. This isn’t a question of making him feel it in the Ukraine. He’s got to feel it back in Russia.”

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