Putin's Influence in Europe

Floor Speech

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Mr. STEWART. Mr. Speaker, in the tumult of a Presidential election, a lot of important and newsworthy events don't get enough attention.

One such event last week was the Czech Republic's release of Ali Fayyad, a dangerous Hezbollah terrorist who was indicted in 2014 by the United States for conspiracy to kill officers and employees of the United States.

The United States had requested Mr. Fayyad's extradition to the United States, and the Czech courts had approved that extradition request. But the Czech Minister of Justice, who is aligned with Vladimir Putin, refused to honor that decision and released this terrorist.

Fayyad has deep ties with the Russian black market for weapons and was an adviser to the former President of Ukraine and a close ally of Vladimir Putin.

It appeared at one point that Mr. Fayyad was exchanged for several Czech nationals being held hostage in Lebanon, but journalists have since shown that the hostage situation was a sham staged by his family and defense team.

This episode is significant for several reasons. First, Mr. Fayyad's presence and influence in Central Europe are yet more evidence--as if we needed more--that Iran, through its proxies like Hezbollah, has tentacles throughout world.

More importantly, the event demonstrates Vladimir Putin's increasing influence with an important member of NATO. And it is not just the Czech Republic.

This is a trend, and it is more concerning. Mr. Putin appears to be quietly undermining NATO by leveraging his cronies in influential positions in a number of European nations.

Several months ago I asked the Congressional Research Service to look into the connections between Putin and high-ranking officials in Europe, particularly NATO members. The findings are alarming.

The report tracks pro-Russian rhetoric and actions of leaders in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Hungary as well as the increasingly evident ideological link between Europe's far-right parties and the leadership of Russia.

Mr. Speaker, though I won't read the entire report at this time, I will include it in the Record.

I say all this, recognizing that Russia is a much more proximate threat to our European allies than they are to us. It would be foolish not to acknowledge that European leaders are in a different position than we are. The democratic institutions that we take for granted are still fragile in many of these countries, and Putin knows that. However, what makes it all the more important is the fact that we, as the world's superpower, do more than offer simple condemnations of Putin's actions.

Both the House and the Senate held hearings last year exploring Russian propaganda efforts. This was a good start, but now we need to dig deeper to understand all of the levels of Russian pressure, including agents of Russian influence who occupy high political offices and own national and regional media outlets.

More than anything, we need the President to get off of the sidelines and show that he is serious about countering Putin. That could start with a serious effort to determine who cooperated with Russia in releasing Mr. Fayyad, and then issue targeted sanctions on those officials.

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