Marco Rubio supports U.S. sanctions on Russia and condemns Vladimir Putin’s crimes

Senator Marco Rubio supports the sanctions President Barack Obama is imposing on Russia in the wake of their possible hacking of the U.S. election earlier this year.

In fact, he thinks they should’ve happened sooner.

The sanctions are in response to U.S. government allegations that Russian hackers meddled in the election and tried to tip it in favor of President-elect Donald Trump by hacking into the emails of many high-ranking Democrats, including Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta and the Democratic National Commission.

Rubio, who supported Trump after his ascension to become the Republican party nominee, says the sanctions are a long time coming, speaking broadly about the crimes committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s regime.

“After years of weakness that have invited and encouraged Russian aggression, today’s actions by President Obama are long overdue,” he said. “Vladimir Putin has made it abundantly clear he is not an ally or partner of the United States, and that his interests are fundamentally not our interests.”

Rubio goes on to list Putin’s crimes – among them repression of the Russian people, the assassination of his critics, the invasion of Ukraine and occupation of Crimea and war crimes in Aleppo, and more.

“I welcome the measures taken today to check Russian aggression and look forward to working with congressional leaders from both parties in the months ahead to strengthen these penalties, thoroughly investigate Russian efforts to undermine the U.S., and ensure that Putin and his cronies are held accountable for their actions,” he said.

Rubio recently defeated Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy in the race for his U.S. Senate seat.