Japan, Canada, and Australia joined the U.S. and Europe in imposing economic sanctions on Russia Wednesday (2/23/22), increasing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his close allies and lieutenants over Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine.  The sanctions, which target Russian banks, energy, and certain high income families with direct connections to Putin, are intended to restrict Russian access to foreign capital by cutting the country off from Western financing. Also impacted is the Russian natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, which is meant to connect Russia to Germany and greater Europe, where European dependence on Russian fossil energy has been a sticking point in Western relations with Russia for decades.

Each of these countries also followed the lead of the U.S. and Europe in stating that the current sanctions are merely the “first tranche” in what could subsequently become deeper and more far-reaching sanctions, should Putin’s invasion of Ukraine intensify. 

Meanwhile, American Right-Wing propagandists at Fox News continued to muddy the waters by throwing their explicit support behind Putin and Russia. 

On his primetime opinion program, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson spent nearly 14 minutes of the 2/22/22 episode attempting to persuade his viewers that, in the words of GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger, “Putin isn’t your enemy. Your fellow American is.”

And on her primetime opinion program, The Ingraham Angle, Laura Ingraham spent 10 minutes herself making the argument that responsibility for the current situation falls not on Putin or Russia, but on American Democrats, for not caring enough. 

In this, Fox is apparently taking its lead from Former President Donald Trump, who spent much of a Tuesday morning interview on conservative radio praising Putin and his approach on Ukraine as “Genius,” and “very savvy.”