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"Sen. Kelly Ayotte is back from leading a delegation to Ukraine, with stops in Afghanistan and Israel.Click to view News 9's report.Russian aggression is what is on the minds of many in Washington, and how far the U.S. should go to defend the region.Ayotte\u2019s trip to Ukraine may have centered on the tension built by the Russian occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, but Ayotte saw firsthand that Vladimir Putin\u2019s plans may be expanding.\"While we were there, they arrested three Russian armed agents in eastern Ukraine. They were armed. They had money, and what they were trying to do was to try and stir things up in eastern Ukraine,\u201D said Ayotte.During an interview scheduled to air Sunday on CloseUP, Ayotte said she would not support U.S. boots on the ground to challenge Russian forces, but did call for tougher sanctions.\"Putin only understands strength. He's a former KGB colonel that is called sort of a school-yard bully,\u201D said Ayotte.On the domestic front, Ayotte addressed what she said the homeland security director sees as a national threat: heroin.\u201CI think nationally there needs to be better coordination and focusing of resources on this horrible epidemic that is not just impacting New Hampshire. It is really impacting so many states in the nation,\u201D said Ayotte.And in the Senate race involving Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, Ayotte calls Scott Brown\u2019s emergence an exciting one, going so far as to defend the Brown\u2019s New Hampshire pedigree.\"With regard to Scott, I mean he was born at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. He does have his family and some strong ties to New Hampshire. And we know he'll go out and talk to one voter at a time,\u201D said Ayotte.The entire interview with Ayotte will air at 10 a.m. Sunday on CloseUP."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wmur.com/article/back-from-trip-overseas-ayotte-comments-on-russian-aggression/5189190>