WASHINGTON, DC — Sen. Marco Rubio, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the call to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid Russia's unprovoked invasion could lead to the "beginning of World War III."
"But I think people need to understand what a no-fly zone means. It's not just -- it's not some rule you pass that everybody has to oblige by," Rubio, R-Fla., told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. "It's the willingness to shoot down the aircrafts of the Russian Federation, which is basically the beginning of World War III."
GOP @SenRubioPress tells @gstephanopoulos implementing a "no-fly zone" over Ukraine means "World War III."
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 6, 2022
"I think there are a lot of things we can do to help Ukraine protect itself... but i think people need to understand what a no-fly zone means." https://t.co/TmS4hhW05m pic.twitter.com/l9EuTazsvv
Stephanopoulos followed up, asking, "How about this provision of fighter jets? We would provide the fighter jets to Poland, other Eastern European nations, they would send the jets they now have to Ukraine, do you support that?"
"I do. If that can be done, that would be great," Rubio answered. "I do have concerns about a couple of things. And that is sort of, you know, can they actually fly them given the amount of anti-aircraft capability that the Russians possess and continue to have deployed in the region?"
As bipartisan support to ban Russian oil imports continues to grow among U.S. lawmakers, the idea has not gained traction within the Biden administration.
"The president has resisted banning Russian oil imports, of course, that would send gas prices soaring even more here in this country. Do you support that?" Stephanopoulos asked.
"I do and I don't think -- you know, I think that's something that you can construct a plan to phase that in pretty rapidly," Rubio said. "And you could use reserves for the purposes of buffering that. But we have more than enough ability in this country to produce enough oil to make up for the percentage that we buy from Russia."
Rubio said the Biden administration's unwillingness to stop importing barrels of Russian oil each day is simply "an admission that this guy, that this killer, that this butcher, Vladimir Putin, has leverage over us."
"Why would we want that leverage to continue," Rubio asked. "Why would we have someone like him to have the power to raise gas prices on Americans which is basically if he cuts us off, what would happen in the reserve?"
"So I think we have enough that we should produce more American oil and buy less Russian oil or none, actually, none at all," he added.
When asked about Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina suggesting in a tweet that someone should assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin and "take this guy out," Rubio declined to condemn the comments.
"Well, look, people are watching what's happening in Ukraine and what this man is doing to these people, what this monster is doing to human beings, and they're very angry about it," Rubio said, adding that "at the end of the day I do think Vladimir Putin is going to face some problems internally in Russia."
"How the Russians seek to take care of it is up to them," Rubio continued. "I'm not sure he was calling for a U.S. action in that regard. I think what he was basically trying to say, at least my reading of it is, I wish someone would take this guy out and remove him from power one way or the other. I think the whole world wishes that."
