[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 23 (Monday, February 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Russia

  Madam President, I have other short remarks that I want to make on 
another subject.
  Twelve years ago this past Sunday, then-Vice President Biden was in 
Munich, Germany, to deliver the Obama administration's first major 
foreign policy speech to world leaders. He said:

       It is time to press the reset button and to revisit the 
     many areas where we can and should be working together with 
     Russia.

  The premise was that the Bush administration had been too tough on 
Russia, and a more conciliatory approach was needed.
  Beyond the rhetoric, this involved abruptly scrapping planned missile 
defense cooperation with our allies, the Czechs and Poles, on the 
anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. Keep in mind, this was 6 
months after Russia had invaded and occupied territory of our ally, the 
Republic of Georgia, an occupation that is still ongoing this very day. 
That all happened a year after the publication of the book entitled 
``The New Cold War,'' by Edward Lucas, detailing the dangerous nature 
of the Putin regime.
  The Russia reset was not just a failure; the reset was ill-conceived 
and counterproductive from the start. Putin's Russia, like the Soviet 
Union before it, only understands strength. Unilateral concessions 
actually encouraged further aggression, like we saw and still see with 
Ukraine.
  I appreciate now-President Biden's more recent tough talk on Russia. 
I like his rhetoric better than many things that President Trump said. 
However, I like Trump's actions, like sanctions against the Nord Stream 
Pipeline, arming and training the Ukrainian military, and partnering 
with our frontline allies.
  The Biden administration no longer talks of a Russian reset, but it 
has already announced the extension of the one legacy of the reset 
policy. The New START Treaty with Russia gutted important monitoring 
and verification measures that were included in the predecessor 
agreement.
  President Reagan famously quoted a Russian proverb, ``Trust, but 
verify,'' when he was negotiating with Mikhail Gorbachev. New START cut 
out the ``verify'' part, leaving only ``trust.'' But surely we have all 
learned by now that we cannot trust Vladimir Putin. He has been caught 
redhanded violating other arms control treaties. So, as recently 
happened, extending the New START treaty without trying to improve it 
is a missed opportunity.

  I hope that President Biden's future actions more closely match his 
words, and he scraps all vestiges of the Obama Russian reset policy 
that he announced 12 years ago this weekend.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President pro tempore, I ask unanimous consent that 
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.