WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the author of a recent report detailing two decades of Vladimir Putin’s malign activities against democratic institutions and processes in Russia and Europe, released the following statement Monday after the White House announced the President was expelling Russian diplomats from the U.S. and closing the Russian consulate in Seattle, Washington:

“The Trump Administration made the right decision today to join our British and other allies in showing the Kremlin that there will be consequences for their malign, destabilizing activities around the world.  Russia is not a fair dealer on the international stage at this time, and under Mr. Putin’s increasingly tightened iron fist, the Russian government is turning more insular and more paranoid to the detriment of the Russian people and the values and norms we hold dear. If the President can be convinced by his aides to take this important step today, then the President should also muster the ability to acknowledge the threat that the Kremlin poses to us based on its interference in the 2016 election, and its activities ahead of the 2018 midterm elections and other democratic processes around the world.”

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