WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Friday joined MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports from the Munich Security Conference to discuss the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the urgent need for continued U.S. support to Ukraine.

Murphy reacted to the death of Alexei Navalny: “So, my hope – and I think Yulia’s hope –  is that this puts some steel in the spine of the United States, that maybe some of these Republicans that are running away from Ukraine and to President Trump decide that democracy is worth it. Because if you abandon Ukraine, you are abandoning democracy crusaders all across the world, people like Alexei Navalny who are speaking truth to power in dictatorial regimes throughout the world. Their light is flickering today and perhaps goes out if we abandon the legacy of Alexei Navalny and we abandon the freedom fighters in Ukraine. We can't do it.”

On the cause of Navalny’s death, Murphy said: “Oh I have no doubt it was an assassination. In part because this is par for the course. Every single high profile political opponent of Putin has been murdered by this regime. And second, it comes just weeks before an election in which Putin clearly wants to send a signal that if you are even thinking of being a public opponent of me and my crowd of oligarchs, you are going to pay a price of your life. So this, to me, is an open and shut case. This is a murder, and one that has to come with consequences.”

On the need for strong U.S. support for Ukraine, Murphy said: “I think it's incredibly important that we are here just days after the Senate voted 70-30 in favor of Ukraine aid. That's not enough Republicans, but it's a big bipartisan vote. It puts a lot of pressure on the House of Representatives. We need to shake some sense into the House and make them understand that if you don't stop Putin here, it is very possible that there will be U.S. troops, men and women dying fighting Putin inside Europe. We also have to make them understand, this would be a devastating blow to U.S. credibility. Just two years after Putin's invasion, we pull up stakes and tell Ukraine that they are on their own? No one will sign up for an alliance with the United States. No one will come to our defense ever again if they think that we're this kind of unreliable partner. The stakes are just enormously high, they were going into today, and with Navalny's death, they get even higher. Our hope is that the big bipartisan vote in the Senate can put some pressure on leadership in the House to at least call the bill for vote. It will pass the House if they call it for a vote. That's all they have to do.”

On Trump’s recent comments about NATO, Murphy said: “Well he’s basically given a green light to Putin to continue his fight in Ukraine and he’s telegraphed to Putin that ‘if I'm President, I will wave you into Europe.’ Now Europe will fight for itself, but without the United States, it will be very difficult to maintain European security absent the United States' help. We are potentially on the verge of World War III because that message is not just to Russia, it's to China as well. They will start to move on neighboring nations if they think that Trump is not going to defend the post-World War II order.”

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