Letter to President Donald Trump - Engagement with Ukraine and Other Longstanding Allies

Letter

Dear President Trump:

As your Administration continues to formulate policies to promote American national security and foreign policy interests, we are writing to strongly encourage you to engage our traditional allies and prioritize meeting foreign leaders representing countries with whom we share historical ties, democratic values, and mutual interests.

We were pleased to see Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attend the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in March after public reports indicated that he might not. We believe it is critical for the United States to maintain high level engagement with our most important allies, and Secretary Tillerson's participation in this meeting and others like it signals our commitment to our friends and our adversaries alike.

Many of our allies in Europe are anxiously awaiting policy direction from your Administration about our commitments to NATO and other institutions that preserve the international order that has served as the framework for international stability and security since the end of the Second World War. Specifically, along with our most stalwart allies in Europe, we remain concerned about Russia's continued military aggression in Eastern Ukraine and ongoing occupation of Crimea. Because of Russia's destabilizing influence, approximately 10,000 people have been killed, over 20,000 wounded, and nearly 2 million internally displaced since 2014. This kind of instability can have far-reaching consequences for our allies and our interests in the region.

In this vein, we strongly encourage you to meet with senior leaders from Ukraine, including President Petro Poroshenko, in advance of any official meetings with senior Russian officials including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meeting with democratically elected representatives from Ukraine would send a strong signal that the United States continues to prioritize our relationship with longstanding allies, and will continue our commitments to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of ongoing aggression.

Sincerely,