[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 117 (Thursday, June 25, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3523-S3524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2081. Mr. PORTMAN (for himself and Mr. Durbin) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4049, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
Strike section 1235 and insert the following:
SEC. 1235. SENSE OF SENATE ON ADMISSION OF UKRAINE TO THE
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION ENHANCED
OPPORTUNITIES PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On August 24, 1991, Ukraine became a free and
independent country after declaring its independence from the
Soviet Union.
(2) The Russian Federation is required to respect the
independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of
Ukraine through its signed commitments to the 1994 Budapest
Memorandum, the 1975 Helsinki Accords, and the Charter of the
United Nations.
(3) On February 8, 1994, Ukraine was among the first post-
Soviet states to join the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's Partnership for Peace, and Ukraine
subsequently participated in numerous North Atlantic Treaty
Organization-led security assistance, peacekeeping,
counterterror, and maritime initiatives.
(4) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Ukraine have
continuously deepened their cooperation through the
establishment of--
(A) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine Charter
on a Distinctive Partnership and the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization-Ukraine Commission in 1997;
(B) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine Joint
Working Group on Defense Reform in 1998; and
(C) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Ukraine Action
Plan in 2002.
(5) In the Bucharest Summit Declaration of April 2008,
heads of state and governments of North Atlantic Treaty
Organization member countries declared, ``NATO welcomes
Ukraine's and Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations for
membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will
become members of NATO.''.
(6) Beginning on November 21, 2013, and ending on February
22, 2014, during a period that became known as the Revolution
of Dignity, the people of Ukraine peacefully protested the
decision of then President Viktor Yanukovych to suspend the
signing of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement,
resulting in the unanimous removal from office of Yanukovych
by the Verkhovna Rada.
(7) On May 25, 2014, Peter Poroshenko was elected
democratically to become the President of Ukraine based on a
pro-European Union and pro-North Atlantic Treaty Organization
platform, which laid the foundation for progress on the
European Union Association Agreement.
(8) In response to Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, the
Russian Federation launched an overt and covert military
campaign against Ukraine, illegally occupied Ukraine's
Crimean Peninsula, and instigated war in eastern Ukraine,
resulting in the deaths of approximately 14,000 Ukrainians.
(9) The Russian Federation's invasion and illegal
occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and instigation of
conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014 was widely viewed as an
effort to stifle pro-democracy and pro-Western developments
across Ukraine in the wake of the Revolution of Dignity.
(10) At the 2014 Wales Summit, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization adopted the Enhanced Opportunities Partnership
Program as a component of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization Partnership Interoperability Initiative, which
would ``encourage, facilitate, and sustain'' Ukraine's
contributions to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
(11) In 2016, as a result of the Warsaw Summit, the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization pledged additional training and
technical support for the military forces of Ukraine and
endorsed a comprehensive assistance package that included
``tailored capability and capacity building measures . . . to
enhance Ukraine's resilience against a wide array of threats,
including hybrid threats''.
(12) In 2017, in the face of continued Russian Federation
aggression in the eastern region of Ukraine and the continued
occupation of Crimea, the Government of Ukraine rejected
cooperation with the Russian Federation and voted to make
cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a
foreign policy priority.
(13) On September 1, 2017, the Ukraine-European Union
Association Agreement entered into force.
(14) On April 21, 2019, the new president of Ukraine,
Volodymyr Zelenskyy--
(A) reaffirmed to European Union and North Atlantic Treaty
Organization leaders that Ukraine's strategic course was to
achieve full membership in the European Union and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization; and
(B) championed the adoption of an amendment to the
Constitution of Ukraine declaring that the Government of
Ukraine is responsible for implementing such strategic course
toward membership in the European Union and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
(15) In January 2020, the Government of Ukraine requested
that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization grant Ukraine the
status of an Enhanced Opportunities Partner.
(16) Since Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity and in
recognition of the United States-Ukraine strategic
partnership, the United States has--
(A) provided Ukraine with more than $1,600,000,000 in
security assistance, including critical defense items;
(B) collaborated closely with the military forces of
Ukraine; and
(C) imposed strong sanctions on the Russian Federation in
response to continued Russian Federation aggression in
Ukraine.
(17) On June 12, 2020, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization welcomed Ukraine into the Enhanced Opportunities
Partnership program, joining Australia, Finland, Sweden,
Georgia, and Jordan.
(b) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that
the Senate--
(1) applauds the progress of Ukraine and the Revolution of
Dignity with respect to strengthening the rule of law and
combating corruption, aligning with Euro-Atlantic norms and
standards, and improving Ukraine's military combat readiness
and interoperability with the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization;
(2) affirms the unwavering commitment of the United States
to--
[[Page S3524]]
(A) supporting the continued efforts of Ukraine to
implement democratic and free market reforms;
(B) restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine; and
(C) providing additional lethal and nonlethal security
assistance to strengthen the defense capabilities of Ukraine
and to deter further Russian Federation aggression;
(3) condemns the Russian Federation's ongoing use of force
and other malign activities against Ukraine and renews its
call on the Government of the Russian Federation to
immediately cease all activities that seek to undermine
Ukraine and destabilize Europe; and
(4) congratulates Ukraine on its inclusion in the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization Enhanced Opportunities
Partnership program and on the establishment of a roadmap to
full NATO accession for Ukraine.
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