Arizona Sen. John McCain joined anti-government protesters in Ukraine over the weekend to support their European ambitions and threatening sanctions against the country’s government, should it use additional violence to disperse the protesters.

During an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” McCain discussed why the demonstrators want a trade agreement with Europe.

“This is a country that’s in really bad economic shape and they need an IMF loan,” McCain said. “They need assistance and if they turn back to Russia, I think that the consequences that they believe would happen, would be rather serious.”

McCain says the protests could make the tensions between the United States and Russian president Vladimir Putin worse, but that the U.S. has a long tradition of standing up for people that are freely and peacefully demonstrating. McCain says the protestors are tired of corruption and the bad economy it’s produced and believe turning toward Europe could help deliver the change they want.