Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea recalls the Soviet occupation of Eastern European states during the Cold War and demands that the U.S. impose new sanctions, according to a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
“Russia’s occupation of Crimea is illegal,” New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Thursday. “We need to be crystal clear about that in our policy, just as we were during the Soviets’ decades-long occupation of the Baltic states.”
To that end, Engel and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., drafted legislation bans the United States government from acknowledging Russia’s annexation of Crimea, while also tightening sanctions on Russia and directing the Obama administration to try to boost the Ukrainian economy. The bill has diplomatic significance as well, because it explicitly compares Putin’s actions to Soviet aggression.
It also boasts the support of senior Democrats and Republicans who often disagree over the wisdom of President Obama’s foreign policy.
“As we have seen time and again, there is no stopping Vladimir Putin’s disrespect for global order, especially in regards to Ukraine,” Kinzinger said. “It’s time for the United States to stand up and reiterate that it will not tolerate Russia’s aggression.”
Other national security hawks, such as Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, are also co-sponsoring the bill, but so are eight of Engel’s Democratic colleagues. Michigan Rep. Sander Levin, who supported President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran, is one of the most notable Democratic co-sponsors.
The first two sections of the bill recall the Soviet annexation of three Baltic countries and emphasize that, just as the United States refused to accede to those occupations, so the Obama administration must not acquiesce to the annexation of Crimea. “No federal department or agency should take any action or extend any assistance that recognizes or implies recognition of the de jure or de facto sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Crimea, its airspace, or its territorial waters,” the legislation says.
Putin might resent especially that the legislation treats Ukraine like a member of NATO, insofar as the bill makes it more difficult for NATO-countries to transfer “certain defense articles or services containing U.S. technology or components to Russia while Russia is forcibly occupying the territory of Ukraine or any NATO member.”
