[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 15, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S686-S687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today in response to Russia's 
alarming and impending threat toward its neighbor, the independent 
nation of Ukraine.
  As we speak, Vladimir Putin continues to ready more than 100,000 
soldiers, tanks, artillery, aircraft, and missiles along Ukraine's 
border.
  To Ukraine's north, in Belarus, Russia has positioned tens of 
thousands more troops, nominally, as part of a military exercise. To 
Ukraine's south, Russian ships are amassing in the Black Sea.
  Propaganda and disinformation are on the internet and on Russian TV 
channels as part of the Russian playbook we now know very well.
  The Kremlin's intent is to manufacture a pretext for its aggression 
and sow divisions in the West. Russian troops already occupy vast 
tracts of Ukraine in Crimea and continue a ``low-grade'' war in eastern 
Ukraine, a war initiated by Mr. Putin that has cost already over 14,000 
lives. Ukrainian soldiers have been bravely fighting and dying to 
protect their country from what has been naked aggression from Russia.
  We hear--even from Ukrainian leadership--that their forces would face 
an unequal fight in a full-scale Russian invasion and, unfortunately, 
probably couldn't help but be outnumbered and overwhelmed.
  And while Moscow has amassed the largest concentration of military 
forces seen in Europe since the end of the Cold War, it continues to 
make shrill accusations that it is not Ukraine but somehow Russia that 
is under threat, all the while making demands that Ukraine never join 
NATO or control its own destiny.
  Even as he threatens war with Ukraine, Mr. Putin demands to be 
treated as head of a normal government. He thrills at being given one-
on-one meetings with other world leaders or being invited to diplomatic 
fora. He rails that Russia has been unfairly singled out for sanctions.
  He demands respect, even as he lays out a thesis denying that Ukraine 
is--or ever was--a country with its own traditions, language, 
aspirations, or sovereignty.
  What Mr. Putin really fears is that if Ukraine succeeds in building a 
nation where Ukrainian speakers and Russian speakers have genuine 
freedoms, can vote in free elections and control their own destiny--if 
that happens, then maybe Russians may start to wonder why they have to 
live in a country where Putin has practically made himself President 
for life, eligible to stay in office until 2036, where questioning the 
endemic corruption of the Russian state, trying to run a business 
without paying off officials, or even expressing an opinion can lead to 
detention, trumped-up charges, or, as we have too often seen, even 
death from a military-grade nerve agent.
  Mr. Putin fears that Ukraine could prove to be a model of what Russia 
could become without his kleptocratic regime. Mr. Putin says he feels 
threatened by NATO. He wants to go back to the good old days, when the 
USSR held Eastern Europe--including Ukraine--in its iron grip. So he 
has decided to seize chunks of Ukrainian territory and unilaterally 
change Europe's borders.
  Now, this isn't a new position for Putin. It reflects a long-held 
view. In 2005, he called the fall of the Soviet Union ``the greatest 
geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.''
  In 2008, he invaded Georgia. When Russian troops seized control of 
Crimea, he sent in his ``little green men'' and adopted his doctrine of 
hybrid warfare. He felt unconstrained to send agents of the Russian 
state to assassinate those he sees as his enemies, whether in Kyiv or 
London or Berlin or Sofia or Vienna.
  And he has built up his arsenal and threatened his neighbors. Putin, 
as we know and have read about, has crushed even the slightest hint of 
political opposition at home in Russia--all of this while wanting to be 
seen as a victim and as the leader of a normal participant in the 
community of nations. These actions are not and cannot ever be accepted 
or acceptable by the civilized world.
  So what can the United States and the West do? President Biden and 
other Western leaders have undertaken the right approach offering Putin 
multiple diplomatic off-ramps--as recently, again, as the visit by the 
German Chancellor this week--and a dialogue about Russia's exaggerated 
fears regarding European security.
  Nobody wants a military conflict between two nuclear powers so the 
President has clearly stated that U.S. troops are not being sent to 
Ukraine to fight Russia.
  At the same time, President Biden has made it extremely clear that if 
Russia rejects this diplomatic path and conducts further aggression 
against Ukraine, there will be a heavy price to pay. Russia will face 
the immediate imposition of strong, robust, and effective sanctions--
including sectoral sanctions against its banking and financial system 
as well as stringent export controls that will damage Russia's economy.
  At the same time, while we do not want to ensure that there are any 
miscalculations or an unintended escalation, the United States and 
European nations have increased their supply of defensive weapons to 
Ukraine to ensure that Putin knows that any invasion will impose costs 
on the Russian military. Mr. Putin may find that if he invades, he may 
not find the going so easy.

  Ukrainians do not want to be part of Russia, especially at the point 
of a gun. As someone who has argued that Russia and Ukraine are one 
fraternal people, it will be difficult for Putin to explain why Russian 
soldiers are dying while trying to kill their Ukrainian brothers.
  As a major part of his policy, President Biden has endeavored to keep 
NATO together and unified since one of Putin's major goals is to 
undermine that unity. The administration's approach is, frankly, 
significantly different from the previous President in this country, 
who undermined the transatlantic alliance, questioned the very need for 
its existence, and took every opportunity to weaken the shared bonds 
that have kept peace in Europe since World War II.
  President Biden, though, has put thousands of U.S. forces on standby

[[Page S687]]

and has deployed U.S. forces to NATO's eastern flank. I saw some 
additional troops from the 82nd heading over to Poland even as we 
speak. Now, again, these movements are not to inflame the situation but 
to ensure that there is no mistake about our commitment to NATO's 
collective defense, our willingness to defer aggression, and to make 
sure that we continue to bolster this critical alliance. The truth is, 
it is not just Americans. Other NATO members have agreed and are 
sending military forces to its eastern border to ensure that Putin 
knows that the alliance stands united.
  Let us be very clear on who the aggressor is in these provocations. 
The eyes of the world have been on Vladimir Putin and Russia, as he has 
initiated a steady and deliberate buildup of Russian forces and 
military assets, as I mentioned earlier, to the north, east, and south 
of Ukraine, and he has rebuffed multiple diplomatic overtures to 
deescalate the situation. Through media reporting, satellite imagery, 
and intelligence shared by our government and by the British 
Government, much of Putin's incitement has been out in the open for all 
to see.
  It is as clear today as it will be through the lens of history that 
this march of aggression has been led by one man, and that is Vladimir 
Putin. But it is important for Putin to know it is not too late to back 
down from this foolish and destructive course of action. Even at the 
eleventh hour, diplomatic avenues remain very much open. Putin can 
still choose against leading further aggression and invasion that would 
have the opposite effect from what he imagines.
  While there have been some reports in the media that he may be 
moving, we have seen no clear efforts. This is clearly a case that we 
will believe what the Russians do, not what some of their leaders say, 
because if Putin does invade, he will have unleashed a tragedy not just 
for Ukraine but for the Russian people. Putin will rightly have earned 
the enmity of all free nations and people everywhere, and Russia's 
economy and citizens will suffer.
  I want to be clear. In the event of an unwarranted, unjustified, and 
illegitimate attack on Ukraine, the United States will stand with the 
people of Ukraine. Russia will become a pariah nation, a rogue state. 
The legitimacy of Putin's regime will be significantly undermined. And 
the NATO alliance that Putin worries so much about? It will be 
reinvigorated to fulfill the mission it was created for: as a defensive 
alliance against Soviet or, now in the 21st century, Russian 
aggression.
  I urge President Putin to choose the right path. Deescalate tensions. 
Don't just talk about deescalation but actually deescalate. Engage in a 
real and honest diplomatic process, and end any plans leading towards a 
violent confrontation in Ukraine. By doing this, he would ultimately 
spare Russia the crippling economic consequences that would be 
necessitated by his aggression.
  I also say, I was very proud yesterday, when the administration 
briefed the bipartisan leadership of all the committees that are 
dealing with this potential invasion, to see the broad and bipartisan 
support behind standing with the people of Ukraine and the message that 
should Putin take these actions, the level of sanctions that we will 
impose upon him and his economy will be unprecedented.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Burr 
and I be permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each prior to the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.