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UKRAINE: THE SCRIMMAGE LINE FOR LIBERTY IN EUROPE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 30 minutes.
General Leave
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as co-chair of the 50-member bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus to voice our strong support for Ukraine and her people.
Ukraine is the scrimmage line for liberty on the European continent--
our very closest allies. Right now, the world is watching with growing alarm as Russia again beats the Kremlin's drums of war.
Vladimir Putin, with his thirst for force over reason and the rule of law, is severely isolated from the norms of human decency and the global community. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. Fourteen thousand people have been killed. While Ukraine is Putin's most immediate target, it certainly is not the only one he has his eyes on. As we have watched, Russia has taken pieces of Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and the message is clear.
Thirty years ago, the people of Ukraine voted by more than 90 percent to establish their independence. Ukraine was a signatory to the Budapest Memorandum in which the West guaranteed Ukraine's security in return for all nuclear weapons staged on its territory be removed.
Will the West keep its promise?
For decades, the Soviet Union held Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and so many others under its iron fist suppressing any notion of freedom. We have a map here that clearly shows how small Ukraine is compared to the vast Russian Empire. We are not talking about equal partners here.
In 1991 the world rejoiced when, at long last, the Communist Iron Curtain fell--a moment the free world did not expect to see in modern time. Upon its fall, liberty and opportunity, which once had only been dreams, now became new possibilities in Ukraine. Over these last 30 years, Ukraine has struggled to cast off Russian interference and grow into a strong, proud, and vibrant nation. It has been a struggle every day of every year.
Having visited Ukraine more than any other Member of Congress, I know her people, her communities, her culture, and her struggle. In 2014 I joined then-Vice President Joe Biden and Senator John McCain to attend the inauguration of a new President of Ukraine. As our delegation walked down the streets of the capital city, I can guarantee you, Mr. Speaker, the applause and cheers that rang forth from the crowd as America walked down the street was absolutely unforgettable and astounding. Ukraine's freedom-loving people were exclaiming their love and friendship with the United States, but, most of all, with the idea of liberty. Liberty. It is a memory that I cherish and will never forget.
The people of Ukraine, yes, they have hopes and dreams, and they want to live with safety, stability, and enduring prosperity, but, most of all, with liberty. Those hopes and dreams face constant threat by Russia. It seems to never stop. Ukraine has no desire to have its back broken under Russia's repressive command.
In 2014 Russia illegally invaded, as I mentioned, and now over 14,000 of her people have been killed in Ukraine. Over 1 million more have been displaced, and the country probably has under 40 million people now.
Russia's physical territory represents Goliath in his battle against David. The maps clearly show how vast Russia is--over 13 time zones compared to Ukraine.
We see the Russian military amassing at all the borders of Ukraine. If Russia again invades Ukraine, the internal opposition would be fierce and bloody, and that country suffered more than any other people in the world during World War II, that infamous period of time when so many Americans died on the European continent for the very idea of liberty in Europe.
The response that is needed from global leaders is clear. When freedom and liberty fall under attack, the free world has an obligation to rise up in its defense.
The United States is doing its part. I support President Biden and his administration having committed to end the Nord Stream 2 project if Russia invades Ukraine further. We must continue to stiffen sanctions and work to establish European energy independence and forge a global defensive shield for the protection of Ukraine.
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The United Nations, NATO, and the Organization for Security and Co-
Operation in Europe have the ability to rally a global coalition to ward off Putin and his thirst for domination over countries that do not welcome him.
Russia cannot be allowed to operate as the outlaw on the European Continent. So let us seek to build, not destroy. The time has come for the free world to soundly reject Putin's ugly schemes and work together to safeguard Ukraine now and forever.
There are several Members who are joining us here today on the floor to participate in this Special Order. I would like to especially recognize Brian Fitzpatrick, the co-chair of Ukraine Caucus from Pennsylvania.
We also have, I believe, Congressman Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, Congressman Andy Levin of Michigan, and Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana, thus far. I thank them all for being here.
I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Kaptur for all she does for Ukraine.
Mr. Speaker, I stand here not only as the co-chair of Ukraine Caucus, but also the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Europe, Energy, the Environment, and Cyber; and a commission on the Helsinki Commission, having previously served and lived in Ukraine, in Kiev, standing side by side with the Ukranian people, and growing to love them for their heart, their passion, their desire for independence, their desire for closer ties to the West, and their craving for freedom, something that they are striving for more and more every single day.
With all of those things in context, Mr. Speaker, this moment before us, unfortunately, has not come as a surprise. Over the last 8 years, the amazing people of Ukraine have endured Russia's illegal and violent occupation. To date, some 14,000 innocent Ukrainians have perished, many of whom were civilians with more than a million displaced.
The autocratic regime of Vladimir Putin has engaged in countless humanitarian violations and challenged international norms of sovereignty over the last 30 years, and it is imperative that the United States and our NATO allies meet this moment with deterrence and diplomacy and strength in unity.
America must, as we have in the past, stand up against Russian authoritarianism. The people of Ukraine share our Western values and deserve freedom from Russian oppression. The people of Ukraine share a steadfast commitment to regional cooperation resisting polarization and shining a light on corruption. The United States has moved to supply Ukraine with lethal aid to maintain its borders in the wake of increased Russian aggression.
The United States has committed just recently an additional $200 million in security assistance, and we must encourage our NATO allies to act in a similar fashion. We applaud those NATO allies who have stepped up to the plate and encourage those who have not that they must do so now to maintain the NATO alliance. We have already stepped up to defend democracy in so many other areas of the world and this must be no exception.
It is my hope, Mr. Speaker, that more of our ally countries will take this charge seriously and realize what is at stake. It is also my hope that our allies can look to decouple with the Russian economy, recognizing the larger threat Putin's destabilizing regime poses throughout Europe and throughout the world. Taking decisive action in implementing economic sanctions to the harshest degree is necessary, and we must weigh all of our options given the severity of this moment, along with a wide, bipartisan coalition in both Chambers of Congress.
My colleagues in Congress have called for sweeping sanctions on the kleptocrats that keep Putin's regime operable. As it has before with other rogue powers, the international community must send a clear and unequivocal message. If Russia insists on threatening the sovereignty of another state and jeopardizing global security, there will be the harshest of consequences.
I would like to thank my co-chairs for being here today as well as Representative Victoria Spartz, the first-ever Ukrainian born Member of Congress, an immense source of pride for the people of Ukraine. We are here to send a bipartisan, bicameral message to Vladimir Putin and his corrupt regime that these consequences will far outweigh any benefit he may perceive of further aggression in Ukraine.
If the Euromaidan Revolution should have sent any message to Russia, it is that you never underestimate the heart and the passion of the soul of Ukrainian people to defend their own independence.
The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians were born after 1991, after their independence. They do not want any part of Russia regardless of what Vladimir Putin thinks. And we will stand behind them unequivocally and unapologetically to call for the harshest of consequence should Vladimir Putin take one step across the Ukrainian border.
I personally will make it my mission here in this body to see that they receive the harshest consequences, the least of which will be ending Nord Stream 2 and removing Russia from the Swiss banking system, cutting off their economy, targeting sanctions to Vladimir Putin himself and his surrounding oligarchs.
I say to Mr. Putin that that will be just the beginning of what he will face.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Fitzpatrick for his strong support of Ukraine and for the substance he has given from his own life prior to his service here in the Congress of putting that life at risk many times on behalf of liberty around the world. I thank him so very, very much.
I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), who is a very fervent supporter of Ukraine, and thank him for adjusting his schedule to be here with us this evening.
Mr. LEVIN of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in the House Ukraine Caucus in this strong show of resolve to keep our focus on what is happening in Ukraine and on its borders. And I especially want to thank my dear friend, Chair Marcy Kaptur, for her leadership in organizing this timely event, and the co-chair, Brian Fitzpatrick, for his strong leadership on this issue and all of the other Members who are joining today.
I represent one of the most vibrant Ukrainian-American communities in the United States. And I have spent time with my constituents in Michigan at memorials and commemorations of the Holodomor, and even just last weekend at a peace vigil in a Ukrainian church to pray for peace and for no more war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian-American community in Metro Detroit and around this Nation is deeply worried about their family, about their friends in Ukraine, and what might happen if Russia were to newly invade their country because we know Russia has already invaded their country.
It is 8 years of Russia invasion and occupation of Crimea and their interference in the Donbas and eastern parts of Ukraine, and it has been a really traumatizing time for Ukrainians, obviously, but also for Ukrainian-Americans.
I have been supportive of the efforts here in the House and by the Biden administration to focus on both deterrence and diplomacy. I am proud to cosponsor the Defending Ukraine Sovereignty Act which seeks to deter Russia by imposing tougher sanctions by providing more defensive equipment and weapons, and expanding programming to counter Russian disinformation and cyber activity.
I also want to commend President Biden emphasizing diplomacy to deescalate tension. Above all, we must avoid a war between the two largest nuclear powers. I appreciate how much he has worked to unify all of our European allies behind this effort, and I appreciate the leadership of those European allies in pushing for a peaceful resolution to this situation.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to join with my colleagues today and to share this commitment to helping the Ukrainian people, and I am hopeful that our work in the Congress, coupled with measures taken by the Biden administration, will ultimately prevent more conflict from breaking out. But we have got to make it very, very clear to Vladimir Putin that he will get exactly what he doesn't want if he insists on attacking Ukraine further.
He has said he wants less NATO involvement in the eastern reaches of the alliance, and his aggression and his provocation is causing just what he says he doesn't want. So I am hopeful that diplomacy can carry the day, but we have to be ready with all measures of deterrence to prevent an attack, and we have to be--even though it doesn't make sense to implement sanctions in advance, it definitely makes sense that we be very clear with Putin and the oligarchs and the people around him just as Representative Fitzpatrick said, that we will implement a broad array of sanctions, by far, the harshest array of sanctions that we have ever arrayed against them.
Before I yield back, Congresswoman Kaptur, I just wanted to share that when I was at my most recent event in the community in Michigan, I said--and Congresswoman Spartz, I want to say this to you because I haven't had a chance to talk to you about this idea--let's organize a vigil at the Holodomor Memorial here near Union Station when we are back to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
Let's get as many Members of Congress there as we can. That idea seems to be taking off with the Ukrainian-American community. So I hope we will soon have a date when we can announce an event there where we can show our solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
Lord knows, we love Ukraine. It is an independent country that deserves to have its own borders respected and where the people deserve to democratically determine their own future and, Congresswoman Kaptur, we are never going to give up on our commitment to those principles.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Levin for his leadership on this, and we will work with him on the vigil at the Holodomor Memorial here in Washington, D.C.
I thank the gentleman for taking the time to delay his flight back home, I am sure, to be with us. The gentleman reminds me when we look at the map of Russia in red and Ukraine in yellow, we think about David and Goliath--at least I do--and David deserves attention and respect.
We thank you for your time this evening. And also I wanted to say to Congresswoman Victoria Spartz from the State of Indiana who is joining us this evening, sometimes the heavens produce someone in the Congress at a moment in history that becomes pivotal.
As I introduce her, I thank her extremely for her excellent participation in the Ukrainian Caucus, her leadership, and her ability to change her schedule at any point in order to be a strong voice for liberty. No one knows better than she what it is like to live under a tyrannical, repressive regime.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Spartz).
Mrs. SPARTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Kaptur and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick for their bipartisan leadership.
I know that this Special Order is about the situation in Ukraine, but the situation in Ukraine goes beyond Ukraine. It is a threat to the stability of the world order, the largest threat since World War II, and a threat to any democracy.
I would also like to remind us that millions of our predecessors died for freedom, peace, and democracy. I would like to read some excerpts from the recent joint statement of the Russian Federation and the Peoples Republic of China dated February 4, 2022.
``Today, the world is going through momentous changes, and humanity is entering a new era of . . . profound transformation. It sees . . . transformation of the global governance architecture and world order .
. . a trend has emerged towards redistribution of power in the world. The sides note that Russia and China as world powers . . . have longstanding traditions of democracy which rely on thousand-years of experience. They stand ready to work together with all the interested partners to promote genuine democracy.''
I know that President Putin is not going to listen to me, and I am not sure to anyone else, but I hope he still has to listen to the Russian people at least a little bit. I am not naive on his personal ambitions although I would still offer him an olive branch if he really cares about his people in his country. Therefore, I am going to direct my message to over 3 million Russian Americans. I am talking to you as a Congresswoman representing the great State of Indiana, who grew up under Communists in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. I was born in a country that doesn't exist anymore, and for good reason, as many of you, too.
I know that many of you have relatives in Russia and dual citizenship. I know that Putin has powerful anti-American propaganda on his TV. I was somewhat surprised over its extant. It's worse than during the Soviet Union times.
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I want you to let the Russian people know that neither the United States nor the West are a threat to Russia's national security.
I would argue that Russia has a much bigger threat coming from the east. There is a very aggressive economic expansion of China in the Far East and Siberia.
I would also like to make it very clear that the American people do not want another war in Europe.
I also want to remind you of the human cost of any war. If Russia starts a war in Ukraine, which looks more and more likely, a lot of young people will have to die from both sides. No one will benefit from it. Maybe the Chinese Communist Party, but not the Russian people.
I just do not believe that the Russian people would want to go in history as a puppet to the imperialistic ambitions of China and would want to promote a so-called genuine democracy of the Chinese Communist Party.
The ball is in your court, President Putin and Russian people. I hope you will be on the right side of history.
I also would like to share a message with my fellow Americans: Do not get distracted, and do not get reluctant. A threat to our freedoms from outside and within is real. Protect and cherish our freedoms so our children do not have to fight to get them back.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Spartz very much for being here and for being such a strong voice for liberty, having known the other side of that. I thank her for her time today, for her heartfelt remarks. We continue to be benefited by her extraordinary leadership.
Mr. Speaker, our final speaker today is the very distinguished gentleman from the State of Maryland who knows a whole lot about the rule of law and human rights.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Mfume), who we are fortunate has returned to Congress after serving in so many national positions. We are so grateful for his life and his presence here today.
Mr. MFUME. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Kaptur for her overly gracious remarks. I appreciate them. I also appreciate the opportunity to join her and the others in our discussion about Ukraine.
Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Ohio has 6 minutes remaining.
Mr. MFUME. Mr. Speaker, I am really happy to join with Congresswoman Kaptur, who has served for some time now as chair of the Ukrainian Caucus, who has driven us and gotten us to this point, but who has also kept together a bipartisan group of legislators. So, to her and to Ranking Member Fitzpatrick, my thanks to both of them.
We are all here, obviously, because of the situation in Ukraine. This comes at us from different ways. I initially got involved when I came back to Congress because of a gentleman by the name of Roman Goy in my district who has watched these situations with Ukraine going back to 2014 and beyond and who felt sort of helpless.
On behalf of Mr. Goy in Catonsville and all the other ones that I have heard from--and I am particularly heartened to also hear, as we did earlier, from the gentlewoman, Mrs. Spartz, who is the only native Ukrainian to serve here in the United States Congress. Her comments are compelling, and her witness is one that we should always keep in front of us as something to be reminded of.
Mr. Speaker, I go back a long, long way in terms of the aggression that we now see in Ukraine. I go so far back as to remember the Cold War days that a lot of us grew up under, the days of a very, very aggressive Soviet Union hellbent on domination, spanning 13 time zones, with a growing nuclear arsenal in those days and with the twisted belief that they somehow or another could, in fact, be a part of this hemisphere and pose an issue to us. It was a different Soviet Union. It is Russia now, but that same sort of thinking pervades.
Back then, I am talking about the missile crisis in Cuba, where Soviet President Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, was putting missiles 90 miles off our coast, believing that he and the Soviet Union had a right to that sort of expansionism, that sort of aggression.
Thank God that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, having reached a very tight ultimatum with the reality, decided that the United States would not accept that.
We were on the brink of war then, but the Soviet Union blinked. They removed their missiles from Cuba, and we have sort of coexisted in a sort of Cold War for some time now.
Then, with the fall of Berlin and the ending of the Soviet Union as we knew it, and now the singular emergence of Russia, all of us concerned here are concerned about what is happening in Ukraine.
When you look at the troop movements that are taking place, when you look at the propaganda being spun by the Kremlin, it is all so familiar to what happened in 1914 when the Soviet Union went off in its own direction and when it began to build up its war machine.
In 2014, the Russian Government, following the same script, has decided--or did decide then--to have similar troop movements, similar weapons buildup, and a similar effort to invade. Even though the talk then was ``we are not invading,'' we know what happened then. They invaded Ukraine. They took and annexed Crimea.
People in Kiev and elsewhere have been watching the situation with great trepidation, and now we are at a point with a massive Russian buildup all along the Ukrainian border, well over 100,000 troops, all sorts of armaments, and the ability to have airpower to strike and to take, if they want to, that country.
So, the fact that President Biden and others have stood up--we want to also thank all of our European allies for banding together. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed just to be able to prevent things such as this. Although Ukraine is not a signatory under Article 5, its sovereignty and its independence is so very, very important.
I want to join with Congresswoman Kaptur, Ranking Member Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Spartz with her testimony, and all the others who have continued to raise this issue.
In the old, old days, we never knew when the then-Soviet Union was going to strike. We don't know now. I remember air drills at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. In schools, we were so close to the end of the last war, kids had to stop what they were doing and practice drills, hiding under their desks. In every school, there was a bomb shelter. We have come a long way since then, but that threat is still there.
A lot of people say: Well, why is this important? It is important because history can repeat itself. It is important because history often does repeat itself. It is important because it is a lesson that we have learned and must never get away from.
Terrorism anywhere is a threat to democracies everywhere. I join and am happy in this bipartisan effort, Mr. Speaker, to lend my voice.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Mfume for his sterling remarks. His presence here adds enormous value to what we are attempting to do, to stop war, to promote diplomacy and peace, and to help protect a David against a Goliath. This is a very noble calling.
As we close today, I want to say for the record, for teachers who may be listening, for scholars, for other Members of Congress, there is a book by Dr. Timothy Snyder of Yale University titled ``Bloodlands.'' If you want to understand the struggle for liberty, that is a book that is a must-read.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 26
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