[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 22, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4327-S4328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   PRESIDENT CLINTON'S ACCEPT- ANCE OF YELTSIN INVITATION

  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, yesterday President Clinton announced his 
acceptance of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's invitation to 
participate in Moscow's anniversary of the 50th anniversary of V-E Day.
  He has accepted this invitation, despite the fact that I--and many of 
my colleagues concerned about the foreign policy implications--urged 
him to seek another time for a summit.
  I continue to believe that his participation in this commemoration 
does not further American interests in Europe and in our relationship 
with Russia.
  First, this commemorative event is morally ambiguous. I recognize the 
valor and sacrifices of the Russian people in their defense against 
Nazi aggression. However, it is equally important to remember that the 
Soviet leaders, through the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact laid the foundation 
not only for World War II, but also for Soviet hegemony over Eastern 
Europe during the cold war.
  Joseph Stalin unleashed Soviet forces against Poland in collusion 
with the Nazis, and during the first 2 years of World War II the Soviet 
Union provided the Nazi Reich with strategic war materials as well as 
with political and propaganda support.
  Moreover, the Soviet Union committed war crimes as brutal as those of 
the Nazis.
  One need only to recall the Soviet's massacre of thousands of Polish 
officers at Katyn; the deportation to concentration camps and murder of 
thousands of civilians, including Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, 
Tatars, Chechyns, and others. After World War II, the survivors in 
Eastern Europe did not benefit from freedom and liberty, but were 
subjected to the brutal hegemony of the Soviet Union.
  If the President persists in going to celebrate the end of World War 
II in Europe with the Russians, I believe he should at least make some 
reference to the fact that the United States, as a whole, has not 
forgotten these, or any, crimes committed during the war.
  The second reason why we encouraged the President not to accept this 
invitation is because the commemoration in Moscow will reinforce the 
growing nostalgia among some Russians for the Soviet past and its 
imperial ambitions, not to mention the leader who epitomized all this, 
Joseph Stalin.
  The presence of the President of the United States risks further 
legitimizing such nostalgia, thereby encouraging Russians to 
concentrate on reacquiring great power status at a time when Moscow 
should be directing its efforts and energy inward, toward democratic 
and market reform.
  Third, this invitation arrives in the midst of the war in Chechnya. 
President Clinton's participation in this celebration will convey 
American indifference to the atrocities committed against the Chechyn 
peoples.
  Indeed, Moscow's management of the Chechyn autonomy movement is 
depressingly reminiscent of the policies that Stalin, himself, used to 
terrorize the peoples incorporated into the former Soviet Union.
  Mr. President, I strongly support efforts to deepen American-Russian 
relations. Indeed, this is especially important today as both nations 
adjust to the post-cold-war era. However, the symbolism associated with 
the Moscow celebration makes it a poor forum through which to pursue 
the type of relationship the United States must have with Russia.
  But since President Clinton has made his decision, I hope he will 
emphasize the following themes in the course of his Moscow meetings:
  The President should speak forthrightly to the Russian people, not 
hiding the fact that America condemns the brutal use of military force 
against Chechnya. Human rights is an international issue. If Russia 
avows to be a member of the community of democracies founded upon 
respect for inalienable human rights, it must live up to those 
standards.
  The President should make clear that America is more interested in 
the future of Russian democracy than in the fate of a single leader. I 
hope that President Clinton will spend his time not only with 
government officials and the leadership of the Russian Duma, but also 
with Russia's leading supporters of democracy.
  This must include members of Russia's beleaguered press and those 
democratically minded legislators--particularly Sergei Kovalyov, the 
former Human Rights Commissioner who was most recently relieved of his 
duties because of his courageous criticism of the Russian Government's 
Chechnyn policy.
  In order for a true strategic partnership to evolve between the 
United States and Russia, Moscow must abandon hegemonic aspirations, 
particularly those toward the non-Russian nations of the former Soviet 
Union.
  In this regard, I applaud the President's decision to visit Ukraine. 
A Kiev summit will be an important signal of America's commitment to 
assist the consolidation of Ukraine's newly attained independence. In 
light of Ukraine's intertwined history with Russia, the success of 
Ukrainian independence and integration into the Western community of 
nations will be a critical determinant of Russia's evolution into a 
post-imperial state.
  Finally, I hope that the President will emphasize that NATO 
enlargement will contribute to greater peace and stability in post-
cold-war Europe.
  By further ensuring stability in Central and Eastern Europe, NATO 
enlargement should allow Moscow to spend more of its energy on the 
internal challenges of political and economic reform. I hope that our 
President will underscore the fact that Moscow cannot and will not have 
any veto over the future membership of NATO.
  Mr. President, although I regret President Clinton's pilgrimage to 
Moscow, I believe that if these three 
[[Page S4328]] themes--human rights, democracy, and rejection of 
empire--prevail, they will help ensure that the Moscow summit is not an 
exercise in propitiation, but a realistically constructive undertaking.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  

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