[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H25]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, for the last few years, Ukraine has been 
working towards the signing of an association agreement with the 
European Union to increase economic and political ties with the bloc 
and to solidify democratic values and principles. The association 
agreement was to have been signed on November 28 through 29 at an 
Eastern Partnership Summit meeting in Vilnius.
  On November 21, the Cabinet of Ministers in Ukraine unilaterally 
suspended negotiations with the European Union due to excessive 
pressure from Russia. Outraged by this, Ukrainians began to protest by 
creating European squares, or Euromaidans, across the country, 
including the capital of Kiev. In the early morning of November 30, the 
Ukrainian Government sent special forces to clear the Euromaidan in 
Kiev by using physical force and tear gas, resulting in many protesters 
and journalists with traumatic injuries and several still who are 
unaccounted for.
  In response to the unprecedented use of force against peaceful 
protesters in Ukraine's history, several high-ranking deputies and 
officials in the governing party defected from the Party of Regions. 
Since then, protests have continued with a reported 1 million 
Ukrainians taking to the streets on December 1. Every Sunday since has 
brought at least 50,000 to the Euromaidan.
  In the early morning of December 11, special forces, using chain saws 
and metal batons, broke through many makeshift barricades made of park 
benches and other available materials in order to encircle thousands of 
peaceful protesters on the Euromaidan in Kiev. In a 9-hour standoff 
with security forces, peaceful protesters on the Euromaidan stood their 
ground, singing the national anthem and praying every hour with local 
churches that were ringing their bells in support of the protesters.
  In 2013, violence was used against more than 100 journalists in 
Ukraine, with almost half of the incidents occurring in December. On 
December 25, a well-known and respected Ukrainian journalist and civic 
activist, Tetyana Chornovol, was brutally beaten on her way home. 
Protest leaders tie her beating to her anti-regime reporting. Her 
severely bruised face is now used as a symbol of government repression.
  The United States calls on the Ukrainian Government to respect 
Ukrainians' freedom of speech, their right to free assembly; and it 
calls on them to refrain from using force against peaceful protesters.

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