Condemning the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity by military forces of the Russian Federation.

Mr. Speaker, my remarks this evening will focus on the crisis facing Ukraine and our world, the most significant test of the will of liberty-loving people since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

The events halfway around the world remind us how precious our own liberties are and how important it is for the world community of liberty-loving nations, those that respect human life and those that believe in democratic advancement. We have common cause with those who stood in the streets in the subzero temperatures of Ukraine, whose futures are uncertain as I deliver my remarks this evening.

The world community of liberty-loving nations and those that respect treaty obligations and their roles as members of the United Nations Security Council cannot let the kind of illegal invasion of another country stand. Russia, one of the permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations, has invaded a sovereign country, violating her territorial integrity and putting off the day that Ukraine can handle its own internal affairs in order to get rid of the corruption of the former regime and allow the voices of people who so very much want to live in a free society to fully develop.

Our Nation and the world have to stand up for freedom, democracy, and human rights in Ukraine. These precious values will be diminished everywhere if we fail to raise our voices in

support of those whose lives are at risk. The West, involving our allies from around the world, has to exert strong diplomatic initiatives, economic reform, including a financing package that the International Monetary Fund and other nations are putting together, humanitarian relief, if requested, and military assistance to strengthen our NATO alliance and the protection of borders.

Recently, the Ambassador from Ukraine to the United States, Ambassador Motsyk, wrote a letter to Members of Congress, and tonight I am going to read it into the Record so every American can hear it:

Dear Members of the United States Congress:

I would like to begin by thanking the United States of

America, and specifically the United States Congress, for the

unwavering support of Ukraine at these challenging times.

For the past couple of months, Ukraine has been in the

world's headlines. The whole world saw the determination of

hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who took to the streets

to stand for a better life--for freedom, democracy, and the

end of blatant corruption that stifled our country for far

too long. Yet the Yanukovych regime tried to silence the

protesters with guns. Peaceful and unarmed demonstrators were

met by special forces with snipers who shot dead almost a

hundred people and wounded hundreds more.

In an attempt to prevent further bloodshed and resolve the

crisis, on February 21, 2014, leaders of the opposition

Vitali Klychko, Oleh Tyahnybok, and Arsenii Yatsenyuk on one

side, and the corrupt regime of Viktor Yanukovych on the

other, signed an agreement that had been negotiated with the

help of foreign ministers of Poland, Germany, and France.

Russia's Special Envoy, Vladimir Lukin, was present, but

refused to sign it. Therefore, the suggestion by the Russian

side that the opposition failed to implement the agreement is

groundless.

The agreement called for an end of violence, restoration of

the Ukrainian Constitution of 2004 and early presidential

elections. However, on February 22, 2014, President Viktor

Yanukovych fled the capitol and de facto removed himself from

his constitutional authority. Therefore, on February 27,

2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was the only legitimate

authority in Ukraine at that time, given the resignation of

the government and the President's self-removal from

exercising his functions, and restored the 2004 Constitution

(approved by 386 votes out of 450), recognized that Viktor

Yanukovych removed himself from his constitutional duties

through unconstitutional means by 386 votes, including 140

votes from the pro-Yanukovych Party of Regions, and set the

early elections of the President of Ukraine on May 25, 2014

(328 votes).

That was 328, a vast majority of members of their Congress, of their Rada, voted for that.

According to Article 112 of the Constitution of Ukraine of

2004, in case of early termination of powers of the President

of Ukraine, the functions of the President of Ukraine shall

be carried out by the speaker of the Parliament until a new

President is elected and inaugurated, the only legitimate

supreme authority in Ukraine is the Verkhovna Rada of

Ukraine.

The Verkhovna Rada is their Congress.

The Rada elected its new speaker, Mr. Oleksandr Turchynov

(by 288 votes), who acts as the President of Ukraine until

the elections, and appointed Mr. Yatsenyuk as the Prime

Minister (by 371 votes). These actions were made in full

compliance with Ukrainian laws.

That is over three-quarters of the membership. As the American people listen to what is happening there, you are watching a country trying to hold its government together. It was like at the beginning of our Republic when we weren't quite sure exactly how it was all going to be put together, but we were trying mightily to create a republic. However, even after the Ukrainian Congress did that, Russia did not recognize these changes and considers the former President, Viktor Yanukovych, its legitimate President, despite the votes of the Parliament, the highest standing body in the Nation of Ukraine.

Producing a piece of paper purporting to be Mr.

Yanukovych's letter asking Mr. Putin to send Russian trips to

Ukraine, the Federation Council of Russia, upon Mr. Putin's

request, approved such a decision.

Some of us who are old enough to remember, remember what it was like living with the Soviet Union, a Soviet Union that invaded its neighbors, a Soviet Union that moved its tanks across Europe, a Soviet Union that killed over 14 million of its own people. There are some Americans old enough to remember that.

Now, the former President of Ukraine, Mr. Yanukovych, who stole from his own people--those are my words, not the Ambassador's--

Mr. Yanukovych is no longer the President of Ukraine,

particularly after his escape from Kyiv on February 22, 2014.

Therefore, none of his statements have any significance under

either Ukrainian or international law. But in any way, even

if the legitimate President of Ukraine called upon a foreign

country to intervene with its armed forces in Ukraine, such a

statement would also be worth nothing, because under the

Constitution of Ukraine, Article 85, only the Verkhovna Rada

of Ukraine, its Congress, can approve decisions on admitting

units of armed forces of other states to the territory of

Ukraine. The Rada clearly stated it had not made any such

decisions.

Seeing that Ukraine is determined to pursue its European

course, Russia, under the completely trumped up pretext,

invaded Crimea with its armed forces.

People of Hungarian-American ancestry understand what it is like to be invaded. People of Polish-American heritage understand what it is like to be invaded. People of Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian heritage understand what it is like to be invaded by the Big Bear. There are plenty of American people who understand what the Ukrainian people are facing right now.

The Russian forces are seeking to establish complete

control over Ukraine's military facilities in Crimea, trying

to block and disarm Ukrainian military garrisons and border

guard bases, blocking airports and ships. The Russian troops

and armored vehicles are moving uncontrollably around Crimea,

one of Ukraine's states, and numerous Russian military planes

and helicopters violated Ukrainian airspace.

Russia's power far outweighs Ukraine, which is nearly defenseless facing this massive force, and yet, Ukrainian soldiers have hunkered down in army bases, in air control stations, trying to stand up as they are surrounded; what courage. What courage.

By countless provocations, Russian military is seeking to

instigate an armed conflict and replicate in Ukraine the

Abkhazia and South Ossetia scenario. However, Ukrainian

servicemen act with utmost restraint and don't react to such

provocations, but there's a threat that Russia may engineer

provocations against its own troops, and blame them on

Ukraine.

Don't forget, Russia's President was head of the KGB, their secret police. He knows these techniques well.

There is also an ongoing accumulation of Russian equipment

on the Russian territory in close proximity to the border of

Ukraine in the Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk and Chernihiv

oblasts.

What does that mean?

These actions may indicate preparedness of the Russian side for possible intervention into the Ukrainian territory across the land border.

The military intervention is accompanied by a huge outburst

of fabrications. I can assure you that Russian-speaking

citizens of Ukraine enjoy the same rights and freedoms as

other citizens of my country. Nobody has ever forbidden,

forbids, or will forbid the use of the Russian language, as

the Russian propaganda tries to demonstrate.

In fact, if you go to Ukraine, people speak many languages. They speak Ukrainian, they speak Russian, some speak a combination. Some speak Polish as well. Some speak German. There are many languages spoken in the nation of Ukraine.

As of today, there is no proof of any violations of Russian

minority rights in Ukraine; there were no appeals to the

relevant Ukrainian authorities, neither from those allegedly

affected nor from Russia's officials. In accordance with the

Memorandum of Understanding between the Parliamentary

Commissioner on Human Rights of Ukraine and the Ombudsman of

the Russian Federation in case of such appeals to the Russian

side, they are transferred to the Ukrainian Ombudsman.

The actions by the Russian Federation constitute an act of

aggression against the state of Ukraine. Russian Federation

brutally violated the basic principles of Charter of the

United Nations obliging all member states to refrain from the

threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or

political independence of any state.

What has happened is serious.

Ukraine in the strongest possible terms protested such

actions, but Russia officially rejected Ukrainian proposals

to hold immediate bilateral consultation (under article 7 of

the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership

between Ukraine and the Russian Federation of 1997).

Again, another treaty violation.

Russia's actions pose a serious threat not only to the

sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but also to

the peace and stability in the whole region. Moreover,

Russian's action provoke a disbalance in the international

security system, and can lead to violations of the regime of

international nuclear nonproliferation on a global scale.

When in 1994, Ukraine became a party to the

Nonproliferation Treaty and voluntarily surrendered the

third-largest nuclear arsenal

in the world, it did so exclusively under certain conditions.

These conditions envisaged granting security assurances to

Ukraine by the five nuclear states. On December 5, 1994, the

United States, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom

signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances to

Ukraine. The French Republic and the People's Republic of

China support the memorandum by signing separate

declarations.

Ukraine has thoroughly implemented its commitments under

the Nonproliferation Treaty and has taken and fulfilled

additional obligations by getting rid of all of its

stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

Today, we witness the situation when the Russian Federation

attempts to undermine the NPT regime not only by violating

the Budapest Memorandum, but also by violating the

Nonproliferation Treaty, which clearly states in its preamble

that ``States must refrain in their international relations

from the threat or use of force against the territorial

integrity or political independence of any state, or in any

other manner.''

Nonadherence by one guarantor state--the Russian

Federation--to its commitments under the Budapest Memorandum

by the military invasion in Ukraine creates a situation when

the threshold states may consider international legal

instruments insufficient to ensure security, territorial

integrity and inviolability of their borders.

We rely on the commitments contained in the Budapest

Memorandum of 1994 and the Charter on a Distinctive

Partnership between NATO in Ukraine, as well as the U.S.-

Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership and other bilateral

documents.

Ukraine is asking the world community to pay attention.

We need help from the guarantor states, the United Nations,

NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe--

Who, by the way, have been denied access on repeated attempts to enter Crimea unarmed to observe, Russia has denied them entry.

--the European Union, all civilized nations to protect our

sovereignty and territorial integrity by all available means

and to prevent a war which would shatter peace in Europe and

will have grave and irrevocable consequences for peace and

security on a global scale.

Ambassador Motsyk goes on:

The aggression must be stopped, and we rely on the strong

and unified position of the global community.

Military units deployed from Russia must leave the

territory of Ukraine immediately, and those belonging to the

Russian Black Sea Fleet must return to their barracks. Armed

gangs that came from Russia must also immediately leave

Ukraine.

Crimea is an inalienable part of Ukraine, with citizens of

all ethnic backgrounds.

All issues should be resolved through negotiations. There

is no alternative to a peaceful and diplomatic solution of

the crisis. We hope that wisdom will prevail.

We need America's help, and we count on it.

Sincerely yours,

Olexandr Motsyk

Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States

I also want to say that there has been some conjecture in the news that we have heard the President of Russia say that Crimea really doesn't belong in Ukraine because, back in the 1950s, when there was a Russian leader by the name of Nikita Khrushchev, that he got drunk one night and he kind of consigned Crimea to Ukraine by accident--by accident--because he wasn't thinking.

There are also very interesting facts contained in a book published in Moscow in 2003 entitled ``Ukraine is not Russia.'' Do you know who it was written by? It was written by the former President of Ukraine, President Leonid Kuchma.

In chapter 14 of that book, President Kuchma devoted 13 pages to trace the history of Crimea and Ukraine. He called it the ``Crimean knot.''

The former President said--when he discusses the politics around the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, he says the then-transition to Ukrainian administration after Ukraine became independent and how he dealt with separatist forces during his tenure as President.

Kuchma maintains that the transfer of Crimea from Russia to Ukraine came in response to petitions from the Crimeans themselves, who felt Moscow was too far away and insufficiently responsive to their everyday concerns, where their own country, their own capital of Kiev, was likely to be more attentive, particularly on issues of water and other utilities; so they could provide for Crimea better than Moscow, located far, far away.

Crimea then, Kuchma writes, was a desert and frontier land. He is referring back to the post-World War II period, particularly after the devastation of World War II.

That area was just violated and leveled to such an extent. It is hard for people in the West who have never experienced that to fully accommodate what happened there.

The residents believe Ukraine would be a better fit administratively, so he says--President Kuchma who had headed that country--the story of a drunken Nikita Khrushchev ceding Crimea to Ukraine as a gift is a fairytale. Those are his own words.

In 1954, right after Stalin's death--and what a butcher he was-- Khrushchev hardly had the unbridled authority to make such unilateral decisions. At the time, he was vying for power inside his own country.

The actual act of transferring Crimea to Ukraine was signed by the head of what was called the Presidium, Kliment Voroshilov, not Khrushchev.

So the President of Russia maybe didn't read history, I don't know; but the point was the transfer to Ukraine came in 1954. It was a consequential date, and it has remained in Ukraine as part of that region for the entire second half of the 20th century and the first decade of this century. I thought it was important to put that on the Record.

I also wanted to say, as a Member of Congress, I am so very, very proud of the work that has been done by the Verkhovna Rada, the legal authority in Ukraine that is holding that Nation together. They are our counterpart. They are a legislative branch of their government, just as we are here.

We for many years now, since 1999, have had a parliamentary exchange with Ukraine, founded and signed by all of our Members, with the former speaker of their Parliament, Mr. Oleksandr Tkachenko, and our Speaker here for many congresses back, Speaker Dennis Hastert. That agreement lives today.

Over the last decade and a half, we have had many parliamentary exchanges. We have had teleconferences. We have had journeys by Ukrainian parliamentarians here and American Members of Congress there.

We believe that the collective intelligence of Ukraine is contained in that Rada. We are very proud of the work they are doing, and we want to continue working with them.

Our agreement says that we want to build upon the strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine, first established in 1996, and that our parliamentary exchange would serve as a conduit in further developing and continuing economic and political cooperation between our two countries.

The types of discussions that we have held--and will continue to do in the future--will encompass economic relations, trade, space exploration, health care, the environment, agriculture, natural resources, and any other matter important to the promotion of close ties between the United States and Ukraine.

This is a moment for more robust engagement with the Parliament of Ukraine and our own Congress. The idea is that we can learn from one another, we can be mutually supportive, and we know how important legislative bodies are to nations that actually expand freedoms, rights of free speech, rights of assembly, rights of free press, rights of free expression of religion, and we are very proud to be partnered with the Verkhovna Rada.

I would also like to read this evening from an excellent article that was written for The New Republic by Yale scholar Dr. Timothy Snyder, the author of a recent bestseller called ``Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin,'' during World War II. It is incredible work.

But in this particular article, he talks about where Putin is vulnerable, where his soft spots are. He states at the beginning of the article:

In dispatching troops to Ukraine, Russia has violated

international law, flouted multiple treaty commitments, and

set the stage for a European war.

It is right that the American people are paying attention; it is right that we are using our power to try to put the bear back where it belongs and to try to move the situation to stability. The price of poor diplomacy, I think, would be catastrophic.

In this article, Dr. Snyder ends by saying:

Russian propaganda derides Europeans as fey and helpless,

and we too often tend to agree. But the European Union does

have instruments of influence. Its greatest power, of course,

is its attractiveness to societies on its borders, such as

Ukraine. But even where membership is not an option, and the

European Union faces unambiguous hostility, it can act.

Russia's very contempt for the European Union might force

Europeans to undertake a more active foreign policy and to

take responsibility for their neighborhood.

The United States has to use our power to help push the situation in that direction.

I just wanted to ask if our dear colleague from Iowa, does he have his own Special Order, or does he wish to join in this Special Order? Congressman King of Iowa.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman King for being here this evening, also for attending the briefing this afternoon and for participating fully in that effort.

As you were speaking, I have a piece of the Berlin Wall in my office. I knocked it off with a hammer in 1989, and I have it framed, and it will be there for the people of my region forever. It is all framed, and it is labeled in memory of that incredible moment.

What we learned during that period of time, post World War II, was that we have to maintain our resolve. I say this to the people of Ukraine that we will not forget you, and if liberty-loving nations use their collective power, change is possible, that change for the better is possible. So, for those who have fear and trepidation, know that there have been models of states before.

Take Hungary, which was invaded in 1956. I can remember Cardinal Mindszenty, from my own denomination, being locked up. When the Russian tanks came into Budapest, Cardinal Mindszenty became a symbol of freedom for the whole world. He was held in the U.S. Embassy. They gave him a closet there, and I actually saw it when I was traveling in Budapest. He became a symbol in the West for defiance against the regime, and our government played a role in that. Cardinal Mindszenty was not an American. He was a Hungarian. He was a Roman Catholic prelate. He risked his life, and he never came out of that Embassy. He became a symbol.

If we look at what happened in the fifties and the sixties in Poland, as labor union members began to demonstrate and be killed, Father Jerzy Popieluszko lost his life in standing up for their right to have a better way of life, and, ultimately, Pope John Paul II became a Pope from inside the Iron Curtain. We saw how religious leaders struggled with the people to give them full voice. It is just so historically compelling and from another realm, from an advanced realm of where the human soul seeks to bring a better way of life to people who seem to be fighting against the odds. They don't have a lot of guns and weapons and nuclear weapons and battleships at their behest, but there is a spirit that attends to those who want to build a better way of life. In standing with the people and in thinking with the people of Ukraine, we hope we embody that spirit.

We were graced with the presence at the National Prayer Breakfast recently with the head of the Orthodox Christian congregations of Ukraine's Patriarch Filaret. We also had other leaders from the Greek Catholic, the Baptist, the Jewish denominations in Ukraine. I have this hope that as the Easter and Passover season approaches that the religious leaders will find a way to invite the world community that wants so very much for the people of Ukraine to be free, that we will find a way to pray for their future together. We hope the religious leaders of Ukraine invite us. I would love to be in that procession. What a place for the world community to be in this Easter-Passover season.

There were Muslims and imams who stood in the square in Kiev; there were Orthodox; there were Baptists; there were Catholics; there were Christian leaders; there were union leaders. What courage. They had no weapons. The weapons were all around them, but they stood their ground. The power of that message is not lost on the people of Ukraine. It is not lost on her neighbors. Frankly, it is not lost on Russia. It is a great power to stand with the spirit of those who want to be free and to find a way to do that, to find a peaceful way to do that.

The Russian Government has never known freedom. They have never had a free election. They have no concept of how to run a free society. I first traveled into that region in 1973, trying to find the shattered remnants of our family, and the further I got--the further we drove--we ended up, I remember, going through then-Czechoslovakia as we entered. We were the only civilian car on the road. Every single vehicle on the road was either a little, white delivery truck or a military truck. I can remember our beloved mother, Anastasia, and I were sitting there in the car, and I was driving.

The further we got as we headed toward Prague, the military soldiers would lift the tarp up on the back of the trucks and look at us--these two women, driving in this orange car with a Western license plate. We must have been a real curiosity, and completely unarmed as they checked you before you went over the border. I remember going over that border--and the gun turrets and the barbed wire--as we proceeded east and how our luggage and our car was examined at every border. The further we got, the more lonely it became until we were the only vehicle on the road as we entered Ukraine for the first time, crossing the border at a place called Uzhhorod, and the Soviets making us wait 5 hours at the border so they could take our car apart. It was just a little car. We had just two suitcases. They couldn't believe we were Americans. They thought we would have brought seven trunks. They looked under the car. They held us at the border until it was night. There were no streetlights, and there were no traffic signs.

We had to find our way from Poland to Lviv, the major city on the western side of Ukraine. In riding over the roads, which had huge rocks, I thought, boy, we are going to get a flat. There were no gas stations. I mean, there was nothing. There was no electricity. We just drove into the wilderness in trying to find that town. When we finally got there, which was very late at night, I saw this little sign called ``In-Tourist.'' That was where they allowed guests or foreigners to stay.

I said to Mom: This must be the place.

It was dusty. There was nobody. There was nobody on the streets, and there were no vehicles. There was just this tiny, little sign in the window.

I went in. There was one desk clerk and one gentleman who was dressed in an elevator operator outfit. He didn't speak any English, and I didn't speak his language. He signaled to me that he wanted me to take the car. He was in the car, and we drove it to the Lviv Opera House, which was in complete disarray. I mean it wasn't fixed up like it is today. The car was then seized. It was put behind those closed gates, and I never saw it again until we left the country. So we had to go everywhere on foot, and we were watched everywhere. We were trying to find the pieces of our family. Our grandparents had come to America 100 years before.

I remember how grim it was. I remember people didn't laugh a lot. They didn't have a lot to eat. We tried to find our relatives. We had, through relatives in Poland, tried to notify the village from which our grandparents came. We stayed in the hotel for 3 days, and we thought, well, nobody is coming. Then our mother, who spoke Polish and who could understand Ukrainian and Russian, heard our name on the third day. Here people had been trying to find us for 3 days. We were the only people in the hotel, and they were told that we weren't there. I can remember how awful that was. Of course, the room we stayed in was up on the second floor of a building now that they call the St. George Hotel, but then it was just the In-Tourist Hotel. They stationed a very large woman outside our hotel door there, with a table and a water bottle, and she knew whether we were coming or going or who came in, and there was a listening device in the wall. There were no curtains on the windows, and there was no hot water. I just remember how sparse it was.

I am probably in Congress today because of what I experienced back then and the understanding I came to have of what life was like there and how difficult it was. I can't go into it all this evening, but I learned about the suffering of the people firsthand.

I think one of the shocking experiences I had was how poorly the Soviet government treated its veterans. They asked me for wheelchairs, they asked me for crutches. I couldn't believe how little respect they had for their own people.

So when I see Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine and invade Crimea, he has no respect for the people there.

We got into the villages. You could only go to certain approved villages in those days. I found that in the village of our grandparents they had to build an outhouse for us to visit, with this little tiny set of stones going back to the outhouse. Americans say, What? I said, Yes. Their life was so basic.

I thought I would never eat a potato again in my life because all we ate was

potatoes with lard on top for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and tomatoes that had been canned. They gave us the best they had.

I thought, So this is communism.

The life of the ordinary person is so pitiful. They had no fresh water. I got deathly ill. There were no doctors. You couldn't get medicine. I learned what dysentery was. I learned what unsafe food was. I learned how the relatives, including one of my great uncles, had been tortured and sent to work camps. They called them gulags. His brother died there. I began to understand the full price that families pay who live under those kinds of systems.

So President Putin has no clue to what a free society really means. So much unneeded suffering.

We have this moment in history to make a difference. I know the American people are considering how to make that difference. Freedom- loving people around the world are as well.

I find the judicious and firm acts of President Obama and Secretary Kerry to be very constructive. America can't be the babysitter for the world. On the other hand, there is a conscience that rises in freedom- lovers, and, thinking together, America will make the right decisions, with her allies around the world, to right this situation and to allow those who want their liberty, after paying such an egregious price, to have that moment in their own history.

I see our dear colleague from New York, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who is appropriately attired this evening in full Ukrainian spirit, has joined us.

Welcome.

I thank Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York for taking time out of a very busy day to work way over time tonight and to be here and to join our plea for the people of Ukraine. Thank you for your leadership in the Ukrainian Caucus, and thank you for wearing a peasant blouse, which has a long, deep history in Ukraine.

Ukraine breadbasket to Europe breadbasket to the world--now the

third largest exporter of grain, despite all of the hardship that the corrupt government of that country has placed on their farmers, who simply want to earn a living from the soil and share their great gifts with the world. They have faced so many roadblocks.

Thank you for appreciating the artistry and magnificent beauty of that country and for your steadfast support of liberty both here and abroad. You have just been a magnificent member. We thank you so much for coming down here this evening.

As she was speaking about New Yorkers who are going to gather in Four Freedoms Park in New York City, a home to people from throughout the world, I wanted to say that there are more Ukrainians living outside Ukraine than inside its borders because of the tragedies that have occurred there over the last century and more, particularly because of the Stalin and Soviet period.

Ukrainians live in Canada, Portugal, Italy, Argentina, and Australia. The pieces of humanity are strewn across the globe, and as I mentioned in earlier remarks this evening, millions of her own people were either starved to death or murdered. They were killed by their own government, the government of the Soviet Union, which tried to eliminate Ukrainian culture, Polish culture, the Jewish religion.

Now we are worried about the Tatars in Crimea because they don't share the majority religion. They are a minority. The history of tyrannical leaders in that part of the world has, unfortunately, been to kill those who don't agree with them rather than to create a civil society in which all views can be expressed, even though we might not agree with them.

So we worry about the people there. We are trying to be a voice for them here in our own country--a voice for freedom, not for brutality or repression. A voice for encouragement, not force alone.

I want to thank Congresswoman Maloney and Congressman King for joining us this evening.

May God bless America, and may God bless the people and the legitimate government of Ukraine as she seeks to build a freedom of liberty and justice for all her people.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 499) condemning the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity by military forces of the Russian Federation, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 499, a very important declaration of support for the people of Ukraine in this time of peril. This measure condemns Russia's unprovoked aggression in clear and in unmistakable terms. The U.S. has a strong interest in a democratic and prosperous Ukraine and a Ukraine with its territorial integrity intact.

I would like to take this time to recognize, also, Ranking Member Engel for coauthoring this bipartisan resolution, and I would also like to thank the members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs for their work to strengthen this resolution at last week's markup where it passed unanimously.

This resolution is an important part of the larger effort to aid Ukraine and impose real costs on Russia, to give Russia something to weigh in the balance, something to take into account for its unacceptable action in the Crimea section of Ukraine.

Among other resolves, the resolution condemns the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity by military forces of the Russian Federation, and it declares that the Ukrainian people have the right to determine their own future free from outside interference.

Importantly, the resolution calls on the administration to work with our allies to impose visa, financial, and other sanctions, as appropriate. Russia's actions cannot go unchallenged.

To show Moscow how isolated its aggression has made it, world leaders are speaking out. Today, the House of Representatives is joining those voices. Ukraine's new government is confronting an economic and financial crisis brought on by years of mismanagement and corruption by previous government officials, and it is doing this while under military invasion and economic coercion by neighboring Russia.

The new government in Kiev cannot succeed without strong and rapid support by the international community. Last week, the House acted quickly on a loan guarantee provision. This is conditioned on Ukraine's undertaking fundamental economic reforms to stabilize its economy.

Addressing Ukraine's energy security must be part of our response here. While the United States recently became the world's largest producer of natural gas, Russia is still the largest exporter. Moscow freely uses its energy resources to advance its foreign policy goals, including by blackmailing countries which are dependent on Russia.

Russia has repeatedly used its natural gas to pressure Ukraine economically and politically. It recently announced that it will significantly hike its prices, a deliberate effort to squeeze Ukraine in order to worsen its current economic crisis and to control it politically.

Fortunately, we have a readily available option to help counter this threat, namely, reducing the current impediments to exports of American natural gas to Ukraine. While Vladimir Putin is selling oil and gas around the world, we still maintain major restrictions on selling our energy to all but a handful of countries.

We should end these self-imposed sanctions on our energy exports to Ukraine. This would undermine Putin's influence. It would bolster our allies throughout Europe and create jobs at home.

I urge all Members to support this important measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on the Judiciary,

Washington, DC, March 7, 2014.

Hon. Ed Royce,

Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rayburn House Office

Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Royce, I am writing with respect to H. Res.

499, ``Condemning the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty,

independence, and territorial integrity by military forces of

the Russian Federation.'' As a result of your having

consulted with us on provisions in H. Res. 499 that fall

within the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on the

Judiciary, I agree to discharge our Committee from further

consideration of this resolution that it may proceed

expeditiously to the House floor for consideration.

The Judiciary Committee takes this action with our mutual

understanding that by foregoing consideration of H. Res. 499

at this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over subject

matter contained in this or similar legislation, and that our

Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as

this resolution or similar legislation moves forward so that

we may address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction.

I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming

this understanding with respect to H. Res. 499, and would ask

that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be

included in the Congressional Record during Floor

consideration of H. Res. 499.

Sincerely,

Bob Goodlatte,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Holding), a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Messer).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the new Prime Minister of Ukraine will visit Capitol Hill tomorrow, and this resolution is a strong show of support in the House. It shows we will support the people of Ukraine as they try to build a democratic country, a country that is more prosperous, a country that is free of illegitimate outside influence. It also sends a clear message to the leaders and elites in Russia that annexation of territory in a neighboring state will not extend Russia's influence but will instead lead to political and economic isolation.

Let me also speak to the issue of Russia's state-controlled gas company, Gazprom.

They have just threatened to cut off supplies to Ukraine. This is not new. In the past, disputes over natural gas supplies and prices and debts have resulted in Russia shutting off the pipelines in Ukraine in January of 2006 and in January of 2009, not surprisingly, in the middle of the winter, when they would inflict the most damage.

These actions also hit several countries in Europe, which are heavily dependent on Russian gas that transits by pipeline through Ukraine. Those countries are Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Romania. This shortfall would reverberate throughout Europe.

I believe it is very important that we pass this resolution out today.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to begin by thanking the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Keating) for his work on this resolution, as well as our ranking member of the committee, Eliot Engel of New York, and also recognize the long, hard work that Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Mr. Gerlach of Pennsylvania have put into their engagement on this issue with Ukraine.

I would also add that, if we do not recognize that Russia is using energy as a weapon, we are missing what is really going on in Eastern Europe and Central Europe. It was, in part, Ukraine's reliance on Russia's energy that pushed the now-deposed Ukraine President Yanukovych to abandon the trade deal with the European Union.

It was that attempt to pressure him, and he was tempted by promises of discounts on natural gas. He was pressured by the threat of turning off the valve on that gas. He was pressured to turn toward Russia instead of to the European Union. We believe that Ukraine should have the right to trade with Russia and with the European Union--to trade east and west and north to Poland and south to Moldova. This should be the decision of the Ukrainian people.

I believe the administration must do far more to isolate Russia diplomatically than it has to date and that the Treasury Department should also make clear that the U.S. is on the lookout for Russian enterprises, especially banks, that are involved in illicit activities such as the transfer of stolen Ukrainian assets.

We must remember that the purpose of our pressure on Russia is not simply to punish aggression and certainly not to escalate the confrontation but, instead, to move Putin toward a resolution that protects the independence and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. That is the goal that all of us share, and I urge all Members to support H. Res. 499 and to stand with the people of Ukraine.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself whatever time I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support of H. Res. 499, a resolution that condemns the recent violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia.

I want to begin by thanking Chairman Royce for his leadership on this issue, as well as Ranking Member Engel, and for their introducing this resolution.

As the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, I, along with Leader Pelosi and Whip Hoyer and my colleagues on the Ukrainian Caucus and the Foreign Affairs Committee, have watched the developments in Ukraine with concern, particularly over the last 9 months.

Long before the Vilnius Summit and then-President Yanukovych's surprise announcement in November that he would not sign an Association Agreement with the EU, our administration noted with concern the pressure exerted over Ukrainian authorities to act against the interests of their own people.

It began with Russian threats of trade embargo and gas supply cutoffs in Ukraine if they signed the Association Agreement.

After peaceful demonstrators took to the streets in subzero temperatures, chilling cold, risking their own well-being in Kiev to protest the decision, Russia threatened to withhold billions of dollars in promised financial assistance if Yanukovych did not crack down on it.

In mid-February dozens of peaceful protesters were tragically killed by Ukrainian special police receiving orders from then-President Yanukovych.

Now, under the most disingenuous of pretexts, Russian President Putin has ordered his troops to invade an independent, sovereign country in blatant violation of international law. Enough is enough. We must stand with the people of Ukraine at this critical moment.

The people of Ukraine, and the people of all countries in the region, and throughout the world for that matter, have the right to determine their own future free of pressure, free of threats. As Ukrainians attempt to chart out their own course, they should know that the United States stands with them and that we are committed to helping them build a more democratic, prosperous, secure, and just Ukraine.

Before I go any further, I would like to commend the administration, and in particular Secretary Kerry, Assistant Secretary Nuland, Ambassador Pyatt, and the women and men of our Embassy in Kiev, who have worked so tirelessly throughout this crisis to support the democratic aspirations of Ukrainian people.

I witnessed them work tirelessly during this effort, not letting 2 days go by without imploring the leadership in Ukraine to move forward. I noticed the Vice President interceding virtually 3 times a week in that same effort. So I welcome the administration's initial actions in response to Russia's invasion of Crimea, including the announcement of an executive order authorizing visa bans and sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for activities threatening Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

If Russia continues to refuse to pull back troops to its bases, there must be further consequences. These consequences must be severe, including trade and economic sanctions and expulsion from the G8. This resolution puts President Putin on notice that his reckless actions will have consequences. It calls on him to accept international monitors in Crimea and return his troops to its bases. It makes clear our support for meaningful assistance to Ukraine and to Ukraine's interim government.

Therefore, I call on all my colleagues to support this House resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), a leader and a voice for Ukraine's strong move to democracy, a person who is cochair of the Ukrainian Caucus and a person who is committed to Ukraine and is one of the strongest voices here in the U.S. for that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his comments.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, this is important, not just with what the resolution says; it is important how we say it as a country. We are gathered here today, and it is no surprise in this Chamber that from time to time we do not see eye to eye on issues. This important matter has brought both sides together, Republican House Members standing shoulder to shoulder with Democrats, joining with the other Chamber, the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans alike with one voice with the administration.

It was only a few weeks ago that I was in Munich and had the opportunity to sit down with Vitali Klitschko, who has been in the midst of all this move for democracy, and, tragically, in the midst of all the violence and killing that has occurred. He spoke with sincerity and passion over what his people are going through right now. He spoke about his country's need to be a free people with a rule of law, stamping out corruption and moving forward in a democratic fashion. He asked that the U.S. speak as well. With this resolution, we have the opportunity to speak in one united, loud, determined voice for democracy.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield to the gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), the cochair of the Ukrainian Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining?

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I also want to mention that it was just a few weeks ago, also, I met with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, as well. We had time to discuss this issue. We had time to, again, recount the valor and courage of those people who took the streets and risked their lives.

It is worthwhile to note that the Prime Minister is in Washington this week, and we want to commend him for his efforts and stand beside him.

Mr. Speaker, at this point, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our minority whip, who has taken this action forward, who has spoken so loudly, and has provided great leadership on this issue.

I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In closing, just recounting the fact that so many of us in this Chamber have the opportunity to travel, to go to different countries, I must say that, each time I go, I will look at different countries, and I will look at the fact that there is no strong rule of law, I will look at the fact that there are no human rights protections, no protections against someone's freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of speech.

I come back to this country, and I kiss the ground that we walk on and take for granted daily.

I have looked at what has transpired in this region. I have looked at the way that laws were put in place in Ukraine and, fortunately, repealed that denied the right to gather together, that denied the right to speak up, human rights violations that I found to exist, too, in Russia, the country that is moving in such an aggressive manner towards Ukraine.

Since 1991, the United States has strongly supported a democratic, prosperous, sovereign Ukraine. In keeping with this commitment, we supported a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the recent crisis there and as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens came out in the streets of Kiev and throughout Ukraine to express their desire for a more democratic and just state, many of them risking their lives, too many sacrificing their lives.

The recent selection of a new interim government signaled that Ukraine was back on a path toward stability and political and economic health; but instead of gathering here to welcome this event, sadly, we are gathered, now, dealing with an international crisis in Crimea.

We must support Ukraine's efforts. Their efforts are our efforts. Their move for democracy is the staple of our own government.

I urge the entire membership to join with us, to join with Chairman Royce, to join with Ranking Member Engel, and the rest of this House on the resolution moving forward.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

I very much appreciate the gentlelady for yielding to me. I have a few topics I intend to bring up in the subsequent hour.

I want to thank the gentlelady for raising this topic and for the significant information that has been delivered here with regard to Ukraine, the Russians, and the political scenario that we are in.

I am contemplating what this means to the world. I will say, Mr. Speaker, that I am more troubled than many about the circumstances that have unfolded off of the Black Sea.

I have watched as Putin set up the Olympics. It looked like part of it was for self-glorification. When I think about what this means politically, much of the world is looking at Putin, thinking, well, look at all of the $50-plus billion you invested in the Olympics, and now, you see the world opinion now has turned against you when you had all of that good will that was garnered at the Sochi Olympics.

I think it is a little bit different perspective from where I sit, that is that the component of this is true, but I don't think Putin cares about world opinion. I think he cares about how much hegemony he can deliver from the seat that he has. I think that the good will that came among the Russian people, his popularity numbers had to go up.

Remember, this is a man who went through a difficult contentious election in 2012. There were demonstrations in the streets in multiple places around Russia. The tension that was there, as any leader, his hold on power can't just be by force and fear alone, there has to be some support that is there.

I believe that the Olympics actually helped Putin and gave him the support base at home that would allow him to pull off an invasion--an illegal invasion of the Crimea.

I don't think he cares about what we think. I don't think he cares what the President thinks, Mr. Speaker. I don't think he cares so much even what the European Union thinks, as long as they continue to buy gas from him and keep his economy going, but I think that was a component.

The next thing is that I have watched him for a good number of years, and perhaps not with the attention to detail the gentlelady from Ohio has delivered here tonight, but I have long concluded that Vladimir Putin is committed to restoring, to the extent that he can in his time, the old Soviet Union.

I think he sees this as a giant geopolitical chess game. I would think back at the time in 1984 when then Ronald Reagan's ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick stepped down as ambassador to move on with her career.

I remember picking up on page 3 or 4 of the newspaper a little tiny article there that mentioned it. It wasn't any examination, but it said a little quote that I think she was very well known for, Jeane Kirkpatrick.

We were in the depths of the cold war at the time, I would add, and she said: What is going on in this cold war between the United States of America and the Soviet Union is the equivalent of playing chess and Monopoly on the same board. The question is: Will the United States of America break the Soviet Union economically in the Monopoly component of the game before the Soviet Union checkmates the United States militarily?

That was the contest. That was a contest as Reagan and Thatcher saw it. That was the contest as far as Pope John Paul II saw it, I believe. We know how that turned out at least in the temporary. The strength of the economy of the United States and our ability to continue to develop more and more technology--to put SDI up in order to restore our national defenses--became the deciding factor. The Soviet Union could no longer keep up with the United States, and the Soviet Union couldn't keep up with the free world. The juggernaut of our economy overwhelmed the managed economy of the Soviets. Of course, Gorbachev was a player in this, and we had glasnost and perestroika. So I think he saw that he couldn't hold it together anymore, and to the extent that he cooperated with Lady Thatcher and President Reagan, we saw the worm turn of history.

I hold in my office a piece of the Berlin Wall. That is framed in my office, and I have had it since 1989. Excuse me. Actually, it was on September 12 of 1990 that that piece was chiseled out of the wall for me. I didn't get to do that myself. That piece of the Berlin Wall represents a piece of the Iron Curtain, itself. The Berlin Wall was the physical structure of the Iron Curtain that Winston Churchill described at Fulton, Missouri, in 1948. The Iron Curtain was drawn by, I believe, the finger of Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin, whom the gentlelady has mentioned, at Yalta, on February 11, 1945, when we didn't know how World War II was going to turn out.

The Allies got together when we were allied with the Russians, and they drew a line across the map. On the east side of that line, they were going to live under the Soviet Union, under the iron fist of communism. On the west side of that line, people were going to live and be free, and the destinies of hundreds of millions of people were determined at Yalta. It is curious to me that Putin has invaded and occupied Crimea, which includes Yalta.

One day, I hope to stand on that real estate and look out across the bay where that decision was made. It was a momentous time in history, and it began the domino effect of the military invasion and occupation of free country after free country. It spilled over to the east--into Korea, Southeast Asia. I have long believed that, had we held a different position--a stronger negotiating position--and if we had insisted with Stalin that we were not going to hand the Eastern Bloc countries over to him, we might have ended up with the map that we see today rather than the map that was so hard fought through the cold war. Think how different it is.

Now I would ask, Mr. Speaker, that when people think about this--and the gentlelady from Ohio and I discussed this in some of the very engaging conversations we have had--think about how the Iron Curtain was constructed, defined at Yalta on February 11 and 12 of 1945, and how that line moved when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989 as each of the Eastern Bloc countries stepped up and grasped their freedom. I think of the people by the tens of thousands standing in the square in Prague, rattling their keys in the square at Prague. Over time, they rattled their keys into, essentially, a bloodless revolution that brought about the freedom of the Czechs for the first time in decades. That kind of desire--that heart for freedom--washed across Eastern Europe. It actually washed across Russia for a time. There was a time that I said that freedom echoed all across Europe and all the way to the Pacific Ocean. I believed that for a while, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, we don't believe this today because the Russia that is ruled under Putin isn't the Russia that the Russian people believed they were going to get when the Soviet Union melted down and imploded, and that became what we thought for a time--hoped for a time--was the end of the cold war. Now I fear that it has relaunched and restarted. Yet we should look at this map of where the new Iron Curtain is. It is at the border of Russia. It doesn't go west of the border of Russia, and it should not be allowed to creep west of the border of Russia.

That is what I believe the gentlelady and I are committed to working towards--to restoring the strength and the prosperity of the people who live free and who give the inspiration to those who do not to live as we do, as a free people.

I very much appreciate the gentlelady.

Thank you so much, Congresswoman Kaptur, for your leadership and for organizing a briefing earlier today for Members of Congress with head leaders from the State Department on the actions that are happening, and for your leadership in passing H. Res. 499 today, which condemned the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity by military forces of the Russian Federation. We appreciate very much your making that happen and helping us to pass that resolution.

Once again, the Russians have rattled their sabers and tightened their grip on the Ukraine. In the past 24 hours they have seized a Ukrainian naval base. Even though the Constitution declares Crimea to be an integral part of Ukraine, the pro-Russian regional authorities in Crimea continue to sever links to Ukraine's capital today, canceling incoming flights from Kiev. They have also run out of town any of the monitors that have come from the United Nations or the independent free world. Flights to and from Turkey also have been suspended.

The Russians have threatened to confiscate Western assets and refuse to even speak to the Ukraine's interim prime minister on the phone. The interim prime minister has found $80 billion missing--even loan guarantee money. This Congress needs to work together to find that money and return it rightfully to the Ukrainian people.

Yanukovych, the disgraced former President, did the Russians' bidding and appealed to Ukrainian military units to refuse to follow the orders of the new interim authorities.

Once again, today, the Russians ignored international norms, calls for restraint, and all the cries for justice for all those who were gunned down in Independence Square.

Congresswoman, are you aware that there has been no action to punish the people who killed community leaders and others in Independence Square? Eighty-two people were murdered.

My constituents have held vigils. They have memorials that they have constructed. In their churches they have pictures of every single martyred hero and heroine, with their stories. Yet no one has been held accountable for that crime against decency and humanity of killing innocent people.

They have ignored Ukrainian sovereignty, treaties, and the rule of law, all in an effort to reestablish a disgraced petty tyrant whose secret life of obscene opulence included--this is hard to say--gold- plated toilets--that is what they are saying on the Internet--along with pictures of all of his zoos and his house and all kinds of things where he wasted the money of the Ukrainian people on wasteful things.

On the other hand, the Ukrainians have already done the right thing for the world around them. In 1994, they signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and willingly gave up the third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. They are a peace-loving people. With the peaceful stroke of a pen this eliminated a far greater threat to world peace than North Korea and Iran combined.

The key thing the Ukrainians were promised in return was security assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. The U.S. and Russia, Congresswoman, were signatories to that statement.

President Obama has made it clear that America will stand with the Ukrainian people. We are all watching everyday on television what is happening, and what has struck me the most was the scene where the Russians were shooting in the air and shouting at the Ukrainians, and they marched peacefully towards them. One general called out: America stands with us.

That is true. America stands with peace-loving people around the world and for democracy. We so often take for granted the freedoms, the liberties, the democracy that we have that others are struggling for around the world.

Tomorrow, the Ukraine's interim prime minister is scheduled to meet President Obama at the White House here in our country. The White House has announced visa restrictions on Russians and Crimeans who are threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The President is working with America's allies to craft economic sanctions that will punish and isolate the architects of this aggression.

Secretary of State John Kerry has traveled to Kiev to mourn for the fallen in Independence Square and to bring $1 billion in American loan guarantees and pledges of technical assistance. We overwhelmingly passed the $1 billion loan guarantee without a cap here in our Congress. It was an important vote. We all stood with the Ukrainians.

Now it is time for Congress to make it clear that we stand with the Ukrainian people. The resolution we passed today is a good start-- condemning the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity by military forces of the Russian Federation.

To paraphrase the Ukrainian anthem: Their persistence and toils should be rewarded. Let freedom's song resound.

We should be asking our friends in Russia, What is their word worth? What is their signature worth on any document, on any treaty, or on any contract? What is their word worth?

I would like to invite the distinguished Congresswoman to join me this Saturday with the Ukrainian community on Roosevelt Island, named after FDR, who went to Crimea for Yalta and spoke of the four freedoms: freedom of want, freedom of religion, freedom of democracy, freedom of speech. These freedoms are what the people in the Ukraine are fighting for, longing for, working for.

We are going to gather at the Four Freedoms Park in Manhattan to pray with, to be with, and to stand with the Ukrainian people who are bravely fighting as we speak for their freedoms, for their independence, for American values that they want as their values. America stands with them. The American people are standing with the Ukrainians.

I thank the gentlelady for having found the Ukrainian Caucus here in Congress, of which I am a member, and also for having crafted resolutions and so many statements in their support and helping to organize in a bipartisan way. Because this country is united. We are speaking with one voice, Republicans and Democrats, in support of the Ukrainian people.

I thank the gentlelady for her magnificent leadership.