OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Ukriane

Floor Speech

Date: March 5, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Oil and Gas Foreign Affairs

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Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, last week I came down to the floor to ask the community of world democracies to provide immediate financial help to the country of Ukraine. I would like to report that the United States has committed a billion dollars, and the European Union has committed, as of the news reports today, another $15 billion.

This is critical in the need to help them get their economy back strong after the incidences over the last couple of months. It is unlikely that Russia will pull back from the Crimea. Prime Minister Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov have said that they cannot control these self-defense forces. Who are they kidding? Russian soldiers with no unit identification does not qualify them as self-defense forces.

If the world stands by and lets this happen, it will be like Neville Chamberlain in the Sudetenland, quoting ``peace in our time'' as Russia continues to gobble up sovereign states.

I want to applaud the Ukrainian commander who was the only calm man on the peninsula, Colonel Yuliy Mamchuk, when he marched his soldiers to the Belbek airbase to continue the job that they do in securing and fixing the facilities. It was a tough standoff, but Colonel Yuliy was astonished by the change of events in that he has had such a great working relationship with the Russian military over the years, and obviously, this relationship no longer resides in the relationship between Ukraine and Russia.

On September 4 through 5 of this year, the next NATO summit will be held in South Wales. I call upon members of NATO to now do what they should have done in the last summit. NATO now must offer membership action plans to those aspirational countries that are moving towards democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. In particular, they need to grant membership action plans to Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.

Now is also the time for us to continue to license LNG facilities so that we can export natural gas to our free and democratic countries around the world, to those who are signatories of the World Trade Organization and also to those who are members of NATO. It is difficult times as you know, Mr. Speaker, but the coalition of free democratic countries must stand united against totalitarianism.

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