“I’m not sure there’s a public figure quite like Nikki Haley, who would be willing to stand up to Russia in this way,” Nina Jankowicz, an expert on Russia and Ukraine at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, told me in an interview Monday.

Indeed, the White House and the U.S. State Department have so far remained silent on Russia’s seizure of the Ukrainian vessels—though, in theory, Haley said that her view reflects that of the administration. (Trump later said, “We don’t like what’s happening either way. We don’t like what’s happening.”) But this public incongruence within the administration is hardly new. At various times since he assumed the presidency in January 2017, Trump and various members of his Cabinet have offered differing views on foreign-policy matters.

On issues as disparate as North Korea, Iran, Qatar, and NATO, Haley; Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state; Rex Tillerson, his predecessor; and James Mattis, the defense secretary, have taken positions that are at odds with Trump’s remarks, confusing American allies about what the U.S. position actually is. Nowhere has this inconsistency been more apparent than with Russia.

The president has been ambiguous about criticizing Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, refrained from criticizing Vladimir Putin, and suggested that “President Obama’s regime” had “allowed a very large part of Ukraine to be taken” by Russia. In the past, Trump has stayed quiet on such issues until he sees pressure building—and when he does comment, he is often defensive. Still, his administration has taken steps to target Russia’s actions: Trump-era U.S. sanctions on Moscow have targeted certain officials and entities, which makes them more limited in their impact than if they were designed to punish Russian oligarchs who are close to Putin or large sections of Russia’s economy.

In any case, the current sanctions on Russia have hardly prevented Moscow from carrying out cyberattacks or attempting to assassinate a former Russian spy in the U.K. Haley’s absence might rob the U.S. of a strong public voice in an international forum, but that role could be taken up by the U.S. Congress, which has been outspoken about what it sees as Russia’s malign influence.

“If Congress decides in the lame-duck [session] to use this as an opportunity to push through more harsh sanctions against Russia, that may prompt a reaction from the president if he feels a lot of pressure from within his own party,” Alina Polyakova, who studies Russia at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank, told me.

The current U.S. Congress has a little more than a month in which to act against Russia. It’s far from certain that it will, despite strong condemnation of Moscow’s latest actions from senior lawmakers.

“The question now is, what will Congress do?” Polyakova said. “I personally don’t have a lot of expectation of this White House putting out a strong statement."