Letter to the Hon. Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States - Congressional Ukraine Caucus Sends Letter to President Biden Ahead of His Meeting with Putin

Letter

Dear President Biden,
As co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus, we would like to express our
concern regarding our shared goal of enhancing transatlantic and Ukrainian national security as
you prepare for the upcoming G7, NATO and U.S.-EU Summit, and your meeting with Russian
dictator Vladimir Putin. A successful meeting with Putin can only be accomplished proceeding
from a position of strength. To firmly establish such a position, we respectfully urge you to fully
sanction all entities engaged in the construction of Nord Stream 2, support Ukraine's NATO
Membership Action Plan, and commit to increasing United States security assistance for
Ukraine.
As you well know, Ukraine is enduring its seventh year of illegal Russian aggression. Tragically,
Russian incursions and occupation have caused the death of over 14,000 innocents and the
displacement of millions more. Moscow's war on Ukraine is in direct violation of international
norms and is a central part of its efforts to undermine NATO and the European Union. Helping
Ukraine stop Moscow's aggression in the Donbass is essential to our interests in the region and
the world. Recently, Russia amassed over 100,000 troops at Ukraine's border and in its
territories and has yet to fully remove them. Instead of deescalating, Russia's Defense Minister
Sergey Shoigu recently announced new and threatening actions that the Kremlin will set up new
military units and formations in Russia's western region that border Ukraine and Belarus.

We appreciate your recent invitation to President Zelenskiy to the White House this summer as
well as your personal engagement on Ukraine in recent years. We also appreciate Secretary
Antony Blinken's recent visit to Ukraine where he expressed robust U.S. support for Ukraine.
Yet, we are concerned that recent steps by the Administration do not adequately project strength of the U.S. position heading into the meeting with Putin. These steps include the
Administration's request to decrease security assistance for Ukraine from the enacted levels of
$275 million in fiscal year 2021 to $250 million in fiscal year 2022. This follows the
troublesome decision to use the "national interest waiver" on Nord Stream AG and Putin crony
Matthias Warnig. This decision was welcomed in Moscow and ignored Congressional intent and
the law under PEESCA. We continue to believe that it is against the U.S. national interest to
allow the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will compromise European and
transatlantic energy security. Also problematic is the slew of high-profile cyber-attacks
emanating from Russia.

To set the stage properly for your meeting with Putin, we urge you to reverse the waiver decision on Nord Stream 2. We encourage the Administration to help Ukraine develop its own energy security strategy through increased scientific and technical exchanges to enhance Ukrainian biofuel, natural gas, hydrogen, and renewable energy generation efforts. In addition to fully sanctioning Nord Stream 2, we also urge you to make clear that your Administration is firmly committed to the requirement that Vladimir Putin must end Russia's war in the Donbass,
withdraw from the Crimean peninsula, and end his forces' and proxies' gross human rights
abuses on religious minorities, journalists, and other human rights defenders in the occupied
territories. We were proud to spearhead efforts through the Appropriations process to increase
defense security assistance for Ukraine to $275 million, and urge the Administration to commit
to providing more robust military support for Ukraine to better defend itself and Europe's eastern flank. In the face of Russian entities' cyber-attacks on western entities working either with explicit or implicit Kremlin consent, we urge the Administration to signal its intention to respond robustly and commensurately to these attacks.

Approaching the NATO Summit on June 14, we ask you to reinvigorate the 2008 Bucharest
NATO Summit Pledge that, "Membership Action Plans (MAP) is the next step for Ukraine and
Georgia on their direct way to membership. Today we make clear that we support these
countries' application for MAP." Ukraine and Georgia should be entitled to realize their EuroAtlantic aspirations to achieve NATO membership through support of those nations' MAP.

Thank you for your attention to these matters, and we look forward to working with the
Administration through our senior roles on Appropriations and Authorization Committees in the
U.S. Congress to strengthen U.S. and transatlantic security by strengthening Ukraine's progress
as a prosperous and democratic nation free from Russian aggression.