[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1029-S1030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Vladimir Putin

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, when Alexei Navalny died 2 weeks ago, he 
had been in solitary confinement for almost 300 days. Outside his 
window, the Russian dissident and anti-corruption campaigner could only 
see a tall fence and no light.
  Far above the Arctic Circle, the prison was built on the site of a 
Soviet gulag, a place the Kremlin has sent generations of Russian 
citizens to break their spirit. But despite the subzero temperatures, 
despite the months of darkness, despite the violence, Alexei Navalny 
never gave up. He never lost his sense of humor. He never wavered in 
his commitment to fight for a better Russia. And what really bothered 
the Kremlin: He never gave up on telling the truth about Putin. After 
all, he is the one who aptly described Putin's United Russia party as 
``the party of crooks and thieves.'' He saw that Putin is still the KGB 
agent who never turned away from the Soviet legacy that crushed 
rebellion in Hungary in 1956, that suppressed reforms in Czechoslovakia 
in 1968, and that declared martial law in an ultimately unsuccessful 
attempt to crush Solidarity in Poland in 1981.
  There was a chance for Russia to take a different path in the 1990s. 
Many Russians leapt at the opportunity after the collapse of the USSR. 
There were independent political parties. There were open elections. 
There was a free press. Civil society emerged. Russians connected with 
counterparts in Europe and around the world.
  But since his rise to power at the turn of the century, Putin has 
turned Russia in a very different direction, ruling with a regime as 
repressive and corrupt as anything under Brezhnev or Khrushchev. He is 
old-school Soviet. Today, Putin wraps himself in an ideology of White 
Christian nationalism. He has cracked down on ethnic and religious 
minorities. He has persecuted the gay and lesbian community. He has 
shut down independent media and jailed journalists like Radio Free 
Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-born 
American citizen who went to visit her ailing mother, and even 
Americans like Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal, who was 
imprisoned for doing his job as a reporter.
  Vaclav Havel would have recognized these Soviet tactics. He was a 
playwright, a dissident, and of course, later, President of the 
democratic Czech Republic. He wrote in the Washington Post:

       I come from a country where, as late as mid-1989, while all 
     around us totalitarian icebergs were cracking and thawing . . 
     . I was in prison. Yet by the end of that same year, I was 
     elected the president of a free Czechoslovakia.

  Long before that, Havel wrote a famous essay, ``The Power of the 
Powerless.'' In it, he explained that dictatorial regimes are mortally 
afraid of the courageous individual who speaks up for their rights, who 
tells the truth when the regime is telling lies. Havel could have been 
writing about Alexei Navalny.
  The Putin regime is a house of cards built on corruption and 
violence.
  I was in Germany earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference 
when the news of Navalny's death broke. I met with his widow, Yulia, 
who spoke movingly about her husband's death. I wanted to convey 
condolences and demonstrate solidarity with her at a painful time.
  Despite Putin's continuing threats, she is not afraid, and she is 
committed to continuing her husband's mission. His team at the Anti-
Corruption Foundation is not afraid. They still have their list of 
``bribe-takers and warmongers.'' Navalny himself was not afraid. Even 
after they poisoned him and left him in critical condition, he still 
went back to Russia. Courage only begets more courage. That is what 
scares Putin: Navalny was not alone.
  I want to speak briefly about another brave Russian democrat who is 
unjustly imprisoned in Putin's gulag. Only a few weeks after appearing 
before a Helsinki Commission hearing I chaired, they also poisoned 
Vladimir Kara-Murza. Like Navalny, he refused to be intimidated. He 
refused to be exiled from his homeland and returned to Russia time and 
again. They threw him in jail almost 2 years ago for his criticism of 
Putin's unjust war in Ukraine. There are others, too, like Ilya Yashin, 
who was sentenced to 8 years after publishing reports about the war 
crimes by Putin's forces in Ukraine in 2022.
  We in the free world must do everything we can to lift up their 
voices. We must give material support to activists, both inside Russia 
and across the diaspora.
  I was pleased to see the Biden administration levy more sanctions 
against Putin's regime last week, including against the warden of the 
prison, whom Putin promoted to the rank of colonel general 3 days after 
Navalny's death.

[[Page S1030]]

  We must hold those responsible accountable, including using Global 
Magnitsky Sanctions. At the same time, the House of Representatives 
must pass the supplemental funding request to help support the 
Ukrainians fighting against Putin's repression.
  The fight against Putin in Ukraine is also the fight against Putin in 
Russia. This is something Navalny clearly understood when he said:

       Russia must leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop the 
     way its people want.

  I realize there is a painful sadness for so many across the Russian 
community in the wake of Navalny's death. It is a terrible loss. But 
remember what he told us:

       If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly 
     strong.

  Navalny personified what Havel long ago described as ``the power of 
the powerless.'' So to the friends and family of Alexei Navalny and all 
those in Putin's prisons, to the Ukrainian people fighting against the 
Russian war machine, to the Russian diaspora who still dream of 
returning home, don't give up hope. Have faith that we will one day see 
a peaceful and prosperous and democratic Russia where freedom and 
justice reign.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to finish my remarks before the scheduled vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.