United States International Programming to Ukraine and Neighboring Regions

Floor Speech

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Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from New York.

Let me begin first by thanking and extending my commendation to the distinguished chairman of our committee, Mr. Royce, and our distinguished ranking member, Mr. Engel. They have comported the Foreign Affairs Committee in a civil and bipartisan, collegial fashion that I think is a model for this Congress, and I wish we could emulate that in more of our committee work and here on the floor of the House of Representatives. They understand, both of them, that foreign policy has to be bipartisan, that the United States' interest must trump partisan issues and interests, and I thank them both for their leadership and their inspiration.

I rise in strong support of these two bipartisan bills which contain provisions supported by our committee and the full House in recent weeks.

The House initially passed a bill to provide loan guarantees to Ukraine on March 6, and with today's vote, the bill finally will go to the President for his signature. It authorizes $150 million in aid to Ukraine, and another $100 million for this fiscal year for increased U.S. security cooperation among NATO states in response to the situation in Ukraine. This compromise legislation will also codify and expand the sanctions imposed last month by the Obama administration against certain Russian and Ukrainian officials who have undermined the Ukrainian Government or committed human rights abuses.

The second bill authorizes up to $10 million for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America to increase their broadcasts into eastern Ukraine--including the Crimea, Moldova, and other nearby ethnic Russian communities--consistent with the House-passed bill.

As the ranking member just noted, the power of radio certainly was something we saw during the cold war era, where truth could be beamed into homes, people had the courage to listen, and it actually changed minds, hearts, and, ultimately, the politics of the entire Soviet-dominated region.

Mr. Speaker, the United States and its allies cannot allow the flagrant violation of sovereignty that occurred by Russia in Crimea in violation of the international law, blatantly, to stand. Doing so would be an abrogation of our moral responsibility as a world power, and it would be turning our backs on the lessons we should have learned from the catastrophic events of the previous century.

Mr. Putin's claims that Russian speakers in Crimea were in jeopardy is nothing more than a fabrication and a ruse. Russia's interests were never threatened in the Crimea after the revolution in Kiev.

The current treaty with Crimea provided Russia with naval and military privileges and bases through the year 2042. That treaty was never threatened by Kiev. That treaty was never abrogated until the Russians' lower chamber of Parliament voted to abrogate that treaty, as a matter of fact.

Putin has learned nothing from history and is, in fact, bent, apparently, on repeating it. Crimea was settled by Stalin to have a Russian majority. He expelled and executed much of the native population of Crimea.

Mr. Putin seems to have learned nothing from that history, other than there is power at the end of the barrel of a gun. And the so-called referendum in Crimea was also, frankly, carried out with the assistance of bused-in thugs and at the end of the barrel of a gun. I guess, as I have said before with respect to Mr. Putin, once a KGB agent, always a KGB agent.

If Mr. Putin's goal was to deter Ukraine and other former Soviet satellite nations from turning to the West, he has failed miserably. Ukraine and its neighbors are now looking at this aggression and turning even more to the West for their orientation and their support. As they do, the United States and its allies must be there to stand with them against this naked aggression, a raw and reckless act by the Russian Government.

I urge my colleagues to support these two bills. Speak with one voice on behalf of the United States Congress, and send a decisive message to the aggressive Mr. Putin and his Russian Government.

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