[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 18, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H1726-H1727]
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. Kinzinger) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to address 
Russia and its aggression in Ukraine.
  Ukraine is ultimately a story of a ruler whose goal is to stifle 
opposition and turn away from a failing economy, corruption, and 
authoritarianism in his own country by creating the semblance of 
economic stability and popular support for his rule.
  The United States and its allies must strive to ensure that the story 
of oppression and authoritarianism is not allowed to continue.

                              {time}  1015

  Putin is aiming to distract the focus of the West from his regime and 
his failing economy in Russia by directing the Russian people to an 
external enemy which has the potential to become a model of Western 
democracy, and that country is Ukraine.
  Just over a year ago, not even a week after the end of the Sochi 
Olympics

[[Page H1727]]

which President Putin staged for a record $50 billion to boost his 
popularity in Russia and in the world, Putin quickly shed the garb of a 
successful master of ceremonies and sent his troops to reclaim and 
illegally annex Crimea, then trump up a referendum in an attempt to 
justify this annexation.
  With his immediate mobilization of the Russian military to try to 
tamp down calls for democracy in Ukraine, Putin planned to send a 
signal to Russian citizens and the world that he remained popular and 
strong in the face of growing calls from protesters in Ukraine for pro-
Russian President Yanukovych to step down.
  But Putin's goal to maintain his popularity through military force 
failed. Although Putin temporarily conjured up nationalist sentiment in 
Russia with his annexation of Ukraine, polls show that the majority of 
Russian citizens oppose sending Russian troops to fight in Ukraine, 
diminishing his popularity at home.
  Meanwhile, Putin continued to ignore, with impunity, calls by the 
United States and Europe to reverse the illegal annexation of Crimea 
and remove Russian military forces. Not only did Putin refuse to 
withdraw forces from those countries or reverse Crimea's annexation, he 
armed pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with Russian surface-to-air 
missiles, which downed a civilian airliner and killed nearly 300 
passengers and crew, to the horror of the United States and Western 
Europe, just after the Sochi Olympics.
  Less than 3 months ago on this floor, in early December 2014, I 
underlined my deep concerns, shared by my constituents, about Russia's 
aggression against Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. I appreciate your 
overwhelming support of H. Res. 758 condemning Russian aggression as a 
violation of international law and a breach of the sovereignty and 
territorial integrity of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.
  However, as could be expected, Putin did not listen to us or our 
allies. Just a month later, in January of 2015, Russian troops 
reengaged with Ukrainian forces in the Donbass region of Ukraine, 
breaking the cease-fire protocol signed in Minsk in September of 2014.
  Although the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany agreed 
to reinstate a cease-fire on February 12 of this year, Russian forces 
violated the agreement within days, attacking a railway hub in Ukraine 
and threatening other strategic cities. Russia's inability to honor a 
cease-fire underlines the importance of expanding the scope of U.S. 
military assistance to Ukraine, including the provision of lethal 
military weapons.
  Putin and his advisers have consistently denied that economic 
sanctions have hurt Russia, adding that the drop in the price of oil 
has resulted in plunging Russia's GDP and lowering the standard of 
living in Russia.
  In addition to suffering economically, Russians have enjoyed no 
freedom of expression under Putin's rule. Such denial of basic human 
freedoms await the citizens of Ukraine should Russian aggression 
continue.
  The latest travesty proving Putin's stifling of dissent to his 
authoritarian rule is the ``unexplained'' gunning down of prominent and 
popular opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in front of the Kremlin just 36 
hours before a rally he had planned to lead to protest corruption and 
direct military involvement in Ukraine. Not only was Nemtsov a threat 
to Putin, he was fearless. He exposed the truth of Putin's rule, his 
corrupt practices, and the fraudulent elections he held in 2011 and 
2012 that allowed him to return to the presidency. Former Prime 
Minister Kasyanov stated that there was only one explanation for the 
murder: ``He was shot for telling the truth.''
  The events over the past year have made clear our path forward. We 
must convince the administration to change U.S. policy toward Russia. 
Putin's aggression in Ukraine and violation of the most recent cease-
fire are linked to the assassination and are directing people's 
attention away from Russian corruption and authoritarianism and toward 
an external threat of democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States must work to restore the country's 
territorial integrity and ensure Russian military forces are removed 
from sovereign nations. We must convince our President that Putin's 
continuation of a war in Ukraine is a desperate attempt to divert 
attention.
  I also call on Russia to release Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian Air 
Force pilot who remains a prisoner in Russia. And I call on the 
administration and Congress to fund lethal military assistance to the 
Ukrainian Government.

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