[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 136 (Wednesday, September 14, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H6149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE

  (Mr. QUIGLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, on January 21, 1990, over 300,000 
Ukrainians joined hands to create a 300-mile human chain from Kiev to 
Lviv in a show of unity and support for Ukrainian independence. One 
year later, on August 24, 1991, Ukraine rose from under its Soviet yoke 
and declared its independence.
  I stand here today to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Ukraine's 
independence and to commend them on their many democratic achievements 
over the last two decades. Yet as we celebrate Ukraine's severing of 
its Soviet chains, we must be aware of new restraints, for new shackles 
in the form of press crackdowns and opposition intimidation threaten to 
re-enchain Ukrainians and reverse their many hard-fought freedoms.
  I have faith in the spirit of the Ukrainian people and hope they will 
join hands again, as they did 20 years ago, and continue to stand 
strong for freedom and democracy, knowing America will always be 
standing beside them.
  As they say in Ukraine: Together we are many. We cannot be defeated.

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