[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 21, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3020-S3021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UKRAINE AND LITHUANIA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last week, Senator Portman of Ohio and I 
hosted a group of visiting members of Parliament from Ukraine. We were 
joined by colleagues from both sides of the aisle in a continued 
demonstration of bipartisan support for that beleaguered country.
  One of the Ukrainian Parliamentarians included a key negotiator with 
the Russians, David Arakhamia. He was clear in his assessment: The 
Russians won't negotiate seriously unless confronted with strength. I 
agree. We must not let Russia regroup and retrench in the eastern part 
of Ukraine.
  We are now in the fourth month of this horrific war, launched without 
provocation by Russian war criminal Vladimir Putin to fortify his 
fragile ego and his warped nostalgia for Soviet horror stories. We all 
recall the initial assessments that Ukraine and its democratically 
elected government would fall within days of the Russian military 
assault. The Russians, for months, poised on the border of Ukraine a 
mighty force--armored military, virtually everything imaginable. Well, 
guess what. It not only didn't happen, but the Russian military was 
turned back decisively in their effort to take Kyiv.
  In the war-torn months since, the government of Ukraine has become a 
symbol of freedom, of strength, determination, and defiance around the 
world. In fact, key leaders from Europe visited Kyiv last week and 
pledged their support for Ukraine's membership in the European Union.
  President Biden has played a key role in rallying NATO allies and 
providing equipment and support that have allowed the Ukrainians to 
heroically defend their nation. He has committed more than $6.3 billion 
in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden 
administration, with $5.6 billion provided since the beginning of the 
war alone.
  This kind of security aid typically takes months to process and 
deliver, but weapons are being delivered to Ukraine at unprecedented 
speed, some in as little as 48 hours. Technical assistance, training, 
and humanitarian aid continue in parallel.

  In fact, under President Biden's leadership, the NATO alliance has 
never been more unified or formidable, including with two new aspiring 
members, Finland and Sweden, hoping to join soon--a step I strongly 
support. Imagine, Vladimir Putin started this vicious war against 
Ukraine to weaken NATO. He strengthened that organization, and now two 
pivotal nations in Europe have asked to join NATO for the first time--
an indication to Putin that NATO's days are ahead, not behind, it.
  Despite these historic successes, we must continue to adjust our 
support for what is likely to be a protracted fight. The Ukrainian 
military needs long-range artillery and other key military equipment to 
withstand and repel the Russian onslaught.
  I am joining Senators Portman, Blumenthal, and Grassley in a letter 
to Secretary of Defense Austin this week urging more long-range rocket 
artillery for Ukraine, which the administration is reportedly reviewing 
at this very moment.
  The urgent needs go beyond weapons. Ukraine's economy and food 
exports--exports that feed some of the world's poorest nations--cannot 
be held hostage to Vladimir Putin's cruelty. For the record, more than 
20 million tons of Ukrainian grain exports are stopped because of a 
Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports, and it is estimated that barely 
half of Ukraine's harvest can be exported this year.
  Secretary of State Blinken rightly has accused Russia of using food 
as a weapon of war, and there are credible reports that Russia has 
stolen Ukrainian grain--imagine this--only to simply resell it on the 
world market.
  One has to ask, when you consider this barbaric act, following other 
barbaric acts: Does Vladimir Putin really believe he is going to 
restore the moral authority of Russia by his actions? Is this really 
the kind of behavior, incidentally, that China wants to be associated 
with?
  So our task and that of our allies must include not only a sustained 
and updated supply of critical weaponry but also help to reopen and 
secure Ukrainian ports and find alternative land routes for this year's 
harvest.
  We must support efforts announced by Attorney General Garland today 
in his visit to Ukraine to help identify, apprehend, and prosecute 
those involved in war crimes. Here in the Senate, we can help that 
effort by passing the bipartisan Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act. 
I have introduced this bill with Senator Grassley to ensure that 
perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine and elsewhere cannot find 
sanctuary in the United States of America.
  I also urge my colleagues not to delay approval of Finland and Sweden 
into NATO and to never again entertain the weakening of this critical 
Western alliance.
  Let me also take a moment to comment on threats made over the weekend 
to one of our NATO allies, a nation which still has a recent stark 
memory of Soviet horror. I refer to Lithuania. Lithuania is one of the 
Baltic States that led the effort for independence from the Soviet 
Union.
  Who can forget the Baltic Way, a human chain of 2 million people who 
joined hands across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania 33 years ago to call 
for independence from the Soviet Union? Just a few years later, in July 
1991, the Russian Government recognized the Baltic nations' 
independence during the historic end of Soviet tyranny in Eastern 
Europe, recognizing that the Russian people were ready to give Baltic 
States a future.
  Since then, Lithuania has flourished as a vocal and vibrant member of 
the European Union and NATO. This small nation of nearly 3 million 
people has never forgotten its own struggle for freedom. Lithuania was 
an early ally of Ukraine's in its fight with Russia, going back to 
2014. It has stood firm against its neighboring dictator in Belarus, 
the Putin puppet Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and against Chinese economic 
bullying for increasing its trade relationship with Taiwan.
  Over the weekend, Russia actually threatened Lithuania, which was 
preventing goods sanctioned by the EU from being transported through 
its territory to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad. Lithuanian 
Foreign Minister Landsbergis, who is accustomed to Russian threats, 
said:

       It's not Lithuania doing anything. It's European sanctions 
     that started working from 17 June.

  Feigned Russian outrage over Lithuania's actions limiting the 
movement of these goods already sanctioned while Russia is bombing 
entire peaceful civilian areas to rubble in Ukraine shows the depth of 
Putin's madness.
  President Biden and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg have been very 
clear that the organization's commitment to the common defense is 
ironclad; it will protect every inch of member territory. Vladimir 
Putin should think carefully about the NATO commitment and the horrific 
cost he has already imposed on the Russian and Ukrainian people before 
making any further threats and continuing his war crimes in Ukraine.

  Mr. President, it has been my good fortune to have visited Lithuania 
many times. My mother was born there. I have a special affection for 
that land and its people. I was there in the darkest of Soviet times in 
1978. I am glad I went. As sad and depressing as it was, it was 
important for me to see that moment in history.
  To see Lithuania today is to see a brandnew democracy, thriving in 
its belief and values of individual people and the determination to 
continue with a free economy and an open democracy. They have come and 
rallied to the side of many around them who are being terrorized by 
Lukashenka in Belarus and by Putin in Ukraine. And Lithuania speaks up. 
This small nation of fewer than 3 million people is a nation which is 
determined to stand for principle and values.
  I want to make certain they understand that there are those of us 
here in the U.S. Congress who will never forget the battle they waged 
to become independent of the Soviet Union and their determination to 
stay in that position.
  I was proud to be one of the voices in the chorus calling for the 
Baltic States to be part of the NATO alliance. They saw it as their day 
of liberation from fear, from the Soviet Union--then Russia, now Putin. 
We have to make sure

[[Page S3021]]

we keep those words sacred so that the NATO alliance is an alliance 
that can be counted on by all of the members.
  I am heartened by the fact that Finland and Sweden are joining in 
this effort now, want to be part of the future of NATO. Extending that 
NATO border with Russia 600 to 800 miles is an affirmation of the 
foolishness of Putin. He actually thought, at the end of the day, by 
invading Ukraine, NATO would be weaker. Now it will be stronger than 
ever and, frankly, right up against his own country and the Finnish 
borders if they are allowed to join us in the NATO alliance, which I 
dearly hope for.
  In the meantime, to my friends and all of the folks I have worked 
with in Lithuania, we are so proud of your continued determination to 
stand up for what is right. Continue doing that. That is the spirit of 
the Baltics, it is the spirit of Lithuania, and it is the spirit of the 
NATO alliance.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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