[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 43 (Thursday, March 10, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S1082]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, conditions are bad in Ukraine, and 
they are getting worse. Vladimir Putin's war is escalating in severity 
and scale.
  This past Sunday, we received the first public reports that Russia is 
now deploying proxy fighters to Ukraine. Putin put out the call to 
action in Syria, Southeast Asia, and Chechnya, and now the mercenaries 
are pouring in. On Tuesday, we heard further allegations that as many 
as 1,000 proxy fighters from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group will 
deploy to Ukraine and attack Kyiv.
  This latest news about proxy developments makes it even more obvious 
how willfully blind the President has been to the disaster unfolding in 
Ukraine. If you look back at footage from the past few months, it is 
clear that the Biden administration thought they would be able to talk 
Putin out of this. They thought they could send in the diplomats, offer 
a few concessions, pat everyone on the back, and head home. But while 
they were lining up their talking points, Vladimir Putin was lining up 
bodies to throw at Ukrainian defenses.
  When we first started to debate the threat that the Chinese Communist 
Party poses to the free world, it took a lot of time to convince the 
skeptics of China's tight hold on the global order. Through the Belt 
and Road Initiative, cheap telecom build-outs, and control over 
important supply chains, Beijing has created spheres of economic 
influence all across the globe.
  The Kremlin has done the same thing with its proxies. But it is 
important to remember that this is not new information. The existence 
of Wagner and other Russian proxy groups is not a secret, and neither 
is their brutal history.
  This won't be Wagner's first time in Ukraine. If fact, that is where 
these mercenaries actually got started. But for the past decade, they 
have been wreaking havoc all across Africa. Again, this is no secret. 
We know for a fact that they have caused chaos and bloodshed in Syria, 
Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, and the Central African 
Republic and that they have helped turn Mali into yet another ``hermit 
kingdom.'' And what have the Russians received in return? They have 
gotten access to oilfields, diamond mines, silver, gold, and other 
extremely valuable natural resources.
  By using his proxies, Putin gets the best of all worlds. He is able 
to force open doors into strategically important areas. He will then 
suck them dry of their natural resources and make his own name 
synonymous with violence in the face of resistance.
  Furthermore, mercenaries exist outside the bounds of laws and norms, 
which means groups like Wagner operate with impunity and give cover and 
plausible deniability to Moscow. In their opinion, it is the perfect 
legal fiction.
  Meanwhile, these proxy fighters have been accused of abductions, 
torture, and rape. They murder journalists and conduct summary 
executions on behalf of their Kremlin overlords. They target civilian 
populations with the specific purpose of terrorizing innocents and 
eliminating dissent, and when they are done, they simply disappear. 
That is what Vladimir Putin is preparing to unleash on the brave 
Ukrainian people.
  I sent, and other Members joined me--we have insisted since February 
24 that this is not a special military operation; this is a war. But by 
bringing proxies into the mix, Putin has signaled that he is prepared 
to do more than inflict violence on key strategic targets; he is 
preparing for a massacre.
  This isn't a head fake. He knows exactly what he is doing because he 
has done it before. He is following the Syria playbook to the letter, 
from the booby-trapped humanitarian corridors to his use of cluster 
bombs, to the presence of proxies to carry out his dirty deeds.
  It is no wonder that Moscow has ordered their fighters to travel with 
mobile crematoriums. It is the only way they will be able to even 
attempt to cover up the brutality inflicted by Putin's private army.
  Over the past few months, Putin has shown us exactly what he intends 
to do to the brave Ukrainian people. He has made no attempt to hide 
behind diplomacy. His military commits war crimes in broad daylight for 
the benefit of the cameras. The introduction of proxies is the natural 
progression of this increasingly savage attack.
  It is time for President Biden to pull the blinders off and decide 
what America's response ought to be, and he has to do that right now.
  We have deprioritized the African theater for far too long, and now 
it is a breeding ground for glorified terror squads. That absolutely 
has to change. Russia is using proxies this very moment to destabilize 
and exploit Mali. We know what they did to the people of Syria. The 
pictures were too graphic for the nightly news. It is time to remind 
the world what happened there and make it clear that unless we do 
something, Ukraine is next.
  We must also send a strong signal to Putin, Wagner, and other thugs 
around the world that there will be no more hiding. Collect the 
evidence now. Document the war crimes now. Prepare for prosecutions 
now. We must let Vladimir Putin know that no amount of propaganda can 
cover up the atrocities that he and his private army plan to commit 
against the people of Ukraine. But we have to do it before it is too 
late to free the world from Moscow's grip.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

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