[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 74 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2305-S2307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last week, my staff found a photo from a 
congressional trip I made to Eastern Europe in 1991. In one of the 
photos, I was standing in front of a wall. There is a message on the 
wall painted in big letters. It reads: ``Freedom for Baltic 
Countries.''
  I remember that trip. The trip had special resonance for me and my 
family. Eight decades earlier, my mother--only 2 years old--she and her 
family fled one of those Baltic nations--Lithuania--to escape the 
tyranny of czarist Russia, and they found freedom in America.
  Here I was--her son--returning to the Baltics in a remarkable moment 
in history. You see, 2 years earlier, in August 1989, 2 million 
people--I will show you the photo of this because it is historic--2 
million people in the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia 
joined hands to form a 373-mile-long Baltic chain of freedom. This 
human chain spanned the three nations and sent a clear message that the 
Baltic nations wanted to reclaim their

[[Page S2306]]

freedom and their independence from the brutal occupation first by 
czarist Russia, then by Nazi Germany, and finally by the Soviet Union.
  Months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Baltic chain of 
freedom forecast the end of the Soviet Union. But who were these 
countries to defy the Soviet Union? Countries with barely 3 million 
population in Lithuania, 2 million in Latvia, and 1\1/2\ million in 
Estonia were setting out to defy the superpower of the Soviet Union.
  In February 1990, the people of Lithuania had chosen a new Parliament 
in their first free election. The new Parliament voted to restore their 
independence and made Lithuania the first Soviet Republic to declare 
independence. They were followed quickly by their neighbors, Latvia and 
Estonia.
  You could feel at that moment when I visited the Seimas, which is the 
Parliament of Lithuania, the hope and history in the air, but there was 
also a feeling of trepidation and uncertainty. Would these small new 
democracies be able to preserve their freedom?

  In January 1991, the blowback that many had feared occurred. Soviet 
tanks rolled into Lithuania's capital city of Vilnius. They attacked a 
crowd of protesters who were armed mainly with prayers and a few old 
hunting rifles, killing 13 innocent protesters and injuring hundreds 
more. Soviet troops and tanks attacked protesters in Latvia. I remember 
visiting Riga and seeing flowers and the candles on one of the walkways 
near downtown where a Latvian lost his life standing up for freedom in 
their country.
  The Soviet troops could not break the determination of the Baltic 
people.
  In February and March of 1991, the people of these three countries 
voted overwhelmingly in support of restoring independence. The United 
States recognized the sovereign new democracies later that same year.
  Today, these three countries are prosperous, vibrant democracies, 
proud members of the European Union and NATO, and supporters of their 
Ukrainian neighbors who are facing Putin's monstrous military wrath.
  When I visited Vilnius in January of 1991--a month before Gorbachev 
attacked with his tanks--I stood with the brave soldiers and ordinary 
citizens who filled the square outside the Parliament. They showed me 
their little arsenal of weapons. They took me back very quietly and 
secretly. It consisted of about 20 old hunting rifles. They were going 
to take on the Soviets. The situation seemed desperate and even doomed. 
Yet Baltic freedom prevailed.
  I think of those days often now.
  When Russia launched its unprovoked, unconscionable war, we were told 
Kyiv and the Ukrainian Government would fall within weeks or even days. 
Our military experts gave us their opinion, and that is what they said. 
Two months later, thank God, Kyiv is still free. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is 
still Ukraine's President. May God protect him.
  Russia has suffered devastating losses on the battlefield and has 
been forced to retreat. Its forces are demoralized and in disarray. 
Russia's economy is faltering under the weight of the most punishing 
sanctions imposed against any nation in modern history.
  Just as in the Baltics three decades ago, Russian strongmen have 
failed to understand the desire of people--even when they are 
outnumbered, if they are determined to be free and choose their own 
leaders, they will not be stopped. The Russians have failed to 
understand the determination of a community of democracy to stand 
together behind them and defeat the brutality and aggression of 
Vladimir Putin.
  Putin may be able to deceive the people living in Russia for now, but 
he cannot lie to the world. We know that the Russian military has 
caused horrible devastation. We see it on the news. And they have 
committed horrific war crimes against innocent Ukrainian people. One 
need only look to the barbaric executions and brutality Russia has 
inflicted on the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. After the Russians fled, Bucha's 
mayor, Anatolii Fedoruk, described the immediate scenes:

       Corpses of executed people still line the Yabluska street 
     in Bucha. Their hands are tied behind their backs with white 
     ``civilian'' rags, they were shot in the back of their heads.

  Putin had the sickening audacity to honor the military unit 
responsible for these crimes, saying this unit had distinguished itself 
in the protection of the fatherland.
  Russian war crimes have not been limited to this situation. 
Throughout Ukraine, investigators are reporting that Russian soldiers 
are using rape as a weapon of war and deliberately shelling schools, 
hospitals, apartment buildings, emergency food centers, and other 
civilian targets. There are reports of summary executions of 
individuals and murders of children.
  I agree with President Zelenskyy. In his words, he said it is ``time 
to do everything possible to make the war crimes of the Russian 
military the last manifestation of such evil on earth.''
  The world can't tolerate this barbarity, and the United States must 
never ever provide a safe haven for anyone who commits war crimes of 
this nature or crimes against humanity in Ukraine or anywhere in the 
world. For that reason, I am introducing legislation that gives our 
government the authority to prosecute non-U.S. citizens who commit such 
atrocities in other nations and then seek haven, refuge, or seclusion 
in our country.
  My bill is called the War Crimes Accountability Act. It closes a 
loophole in our current law that prevents our government from 
prosecuting war crimes unless they are actually committed in the United 
States or by or against U.S. citizens or members of our Armed Forces.
  My bill would also make crimes against humanity a crime under U.S. 
law so that such perpetrators cannot find--ever--safe haven in this 
country. What would this mean in practice? If a Russian soldier 
committed war crimes such as those we see here or crimes against 
humanity in Ukraine or a person commits such atrocities anywhere in the 
world--say in Myanmar or in China--they can be tried under U.S. law and 
face criminal, civil, and immigration consequences. It builds on 
previous laws I sponsored to make people who commit acts of genocide or 
who use child soldiers in war accountable under U.S. law. Those bills 
passed the Senate unanimously and were both signed into law by 
President George W. Bush.
  Despite the heroic efforts of the Ukrainian people, Russian forces 
continue to lay siege to the eastern part of that country, bombing 
civilians and forcing an even greater humanitarian nightmare.
  Last week, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres traveled to Kyiv. 
He witnessed the destruction wrought by Russia, and he said:

       When I see those destroyed buildings, I must say what I 
     feel. I imagined my family in one of those houses that is now 
     destroyed. . . . I see my granddaughters running away in 
     panic, part of the family eventually killed.

  He went on to say:

       The war is an absurdity of the 21st century. The war is 
     evil.

  So when President Biden announced a substantial new aid package for 
Ukraine, I said immediately: Count me in. The other day at the Senate 
Appropriations Committee on Defense, I asked Defense Secretary Austin 
and General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, about Ukraine's 
defense capabilities and the President's new request for aid. Both of 
these military leaders emphasized that continued, substantial support 
from the United States and its allies will be critical not only for 
Ukraine's future but also to reassure our allies in the region, in the 
Baltics, Moldova, Poland.
  The $33 billion that Biden has asked for aid in Ukraine will help 
them withstand the next brutal phase of war and prevent Putin from 
spreading this malevolent war into other nations.
  Let me conclude with a story about another brave soldier in the ranks 
of civilians, standing up to Putin's menace. Her name is Sviatlana 
Tsikhanouskaya. She is a leader of the democratic opposition in 
Belarus, another former Soviet Republic bordering the Baltics and 
Poland.
  Last week, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya was in Washington to meet with the 
leaders of our government. Senator Shaheen hosted a meeting with her. 
Had Putin's puppets in Belarus not rigged the last election, she might 
have been elected President--almost certainly would have been. This 
photo shows Belarusians protesting that rigged election, risking their 
lives to do it, I might add. For months, thousands of Belarusians 
protested. Many were arrested and sentenced to long prison

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sentences. I had been there before. The last dictator in continental 
Europe is a man named Lukashenka. He has phony elections from time to 
time. Anyone with the audacity to run against him is sure to lose by 
Lukashenka's count and almost certainly to be imprisoned immediately.
  He did that to this lady's--Ms. Tsikhanouskaya's--husband who is now 
in jail in Minsk. This photo shows Belarusians with the courage to 
protest that rigged election. For months, thousands have protested; 
many have been arrested and sentenced. Today, Vladimir Putin is using 
Belarus as a staging ground for Russia's assault on Ukraine, but the 
Belarusian people have not given up their determination for freedom 
either. Hundreds of Belarusians, maybe more, are fighting in Ukraine 
today, and we thank them for that courage. Others have helped to blunt 
Putin's assault by sabotaging Belarusian train lines and crippling 
Russian supply lines. The supplemental aid package that President Biden 
has requested for Ukraine, for the weapons to repel Russia's war of 
conquest and to give the people of Belarus, the Baltics, Moldova, 
Poland, the security they need to realize their dreams of freedom, 
dignity, and independence is a statement of the values of America.
  I urge my colleagues to come together, waste no time, pass it 
quickly, send the Ukrainians what they need to win this war.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                 Unanimous Consent Agreement--H.R. 4521

  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that at 2:30 today, the Senate 
resume legislative session and resume the House message to accompany 
H.R. 4521; further, that the previous order be modified to allow 
Senator Murkowski to offer the motion to instruct that is at the desk 
in lieu of the motion in the previous order; that Senator Bennet or his 
designee be permitted to make the Bennet motion; and that the Senate 
vote on the motions in the order listed without further intervening 
action or debate, with all other provisions in the previous order 
remaining in effect, and that all votes after the first be 10-minute 
votes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.