Three-Year Anniversary of Russia's Brutal Attack on Ukraine

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman so very much for allowing me to speak this evening and to also thank her for her service to the United States of America in our military. She knows the cost of liberty. There couldn't be a better Member of Congress than Chrissy Houlahan, I will tell you that.

A lot of Americans perhaps in the newer generations don't understand what Russia is capable of, so I refer them to two books if they are interested, and I hope they are. One is ``Bloodlands'' by Dr. Timothy Snyder, now at Yale University, who discusses the history of the region that we are talking about and what happened yesterday at the United Nations. Another book is ``Red Sparrow.'' I would recommend people don't read that in the evening, but during the day because they will learn more about how Russia both operates now and has always operated.

To give a little history, before the collapse of the murderous dictatorship that was called the Soviet Union that occurred in 1991 and had extended all the way from Russia all the way across Europe to Germany to East Berlin, which has been free since 1991, a great President, Ronald Reagan, served this Nation. He was elected twice.

He correctly identified Russia as the ``evil empire.'' Ronald Reagan had been an actor in Hollywood and fought to remove Communists from the ranks of the Screen Actors Guild in California, where he met his wife. That particular effort by Reagan took great courage because he could have been killed. That is what it is like to deal with Russia as the Soviet Union or the empire now.

Another Republican President during my service was George W. Bush. He named Russia and North Korea as the ``axis of evil.'' We could add Iran and other countries. Never before at the United Nations has any U.S. President ever stood with the dictators of Russia.

Those countries that voted with Russia yesterday are state sponsors of terrorism. Russia understands terror. That is what she does. For the United States to stand beside Russia, North Korea, and Belarus at the United Nations, it is appalling. It is appalling.

Russia's atrocities go back hundreds of years. During World War II on the soils of Ukraine, 14 million people were murdered. This is the tradition of Putin. If you do not know that, you are naive. Wake up. Wake up.

Even China abstained from the vote yesterday.

Aligning with these countries which past Presidents have called the epitome of evil on Earth is shocking. The very fundamental purpose of this Nation is liberty. That is why we are here. This isn't some game, and it is not about strategic metals or very precious items that are underground somewhere. It is about something much more precious-- liberty.

To see that happen at the U.N. yesterday, I thought, what have they been drinking up there?

Ukraine is the scrimmage line for liberty on the Continent of Europe today, and no President of the United States should cavort with dictators. We have always been the bastion of freedom. Our people have died for it, defending these ideals around the world. Yesterday, President Trump cowered and appeased one of the most dangerous dictatorships in the world.

Mr. Speaker, it is shameful. It is un-American. It is not patriotic. It is almost traitorous--maybe it is traitorous to do that. We know Russia. We know North Korea. We know Iran. They don't stand for liberty. They are part of the new spiderweb of tyranny that is poised against us, if anyone is paying attention anywhere in this country.

The actions to vote with them and against Ukraine is a blotch on America's record as a champion for a free world. Most of the world is not free. If people haven't traveled to these places, try. They might learn something.

Tomorrow is another day. I urge those who lead foreign policy for this administration to remember who we fight for, who our friends are, who our allies are, and who our enemies are united against us.

I also just wanted to place on the record a reminder that when Ukraine was beginning to be free after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a great man, Viktor Yushchenko, was President of the young Ukraine. What did Putin do? Putin had him poisoned. Yushchenko survived somehow when they flew him to Europe and they tried to pump him out with some kind of horrible, strategic metal that he had been made to swallow when he ate with the dictators who continued to control Russia. Putin had just killed Alexei Navalny in a terrible Arctic prison because he wanted to run against Putin.

That is how someone gets elected in Russia. Kill the opposition. My friends, pay attention. Be informed. If we want to understand how a tyranny operates, look at the film on YouTube. It takes 30 minutes. It is called, ``Freedom Means Never Surrender.'' It is a documentary about how a tyranny functions. It just won the Telly Award. Take the time to do it. Recall the preciousness of the liberty we enjoy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much for allowing us to speak on this Special Order.

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