More than two years ago, I sat in the gallery of the House of Representatives and watched Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko address a joint session of Congress. I am the great-granddaughter of Ukrainian immigrants. I did my master’s thesis at Georgetown on the impact of United States-Russian educational exchange programs on sustainable democratization in the Russian Federation.
My ethnic and academic background made me especially entranced by the speech of the new Ukrainian president. Current events meant the world was focused on his words too.
In 2014, Russia occupied Crimea, an area of Ukraine with strategic value on the Black Sea. Tensions escalated and conflicts ensued in Eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian troops and so-called Russian nationalist rebels. Russian authorities denied their involvement in eastern Ukraine, yet their footprint was hard to miss.
Poroshenko made an impassioned plea to the American government on that fall September day in Washington. He asked the U.S., the winner of the Cold War, to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression and to protect Ukraine’s position as an independent democracy in Russia’s back yard. “Democracies must support each other. Or they will be eliminated, one by one,” Poroshenko said to Congress.
Poroshenko, a former confectionary mogul, came to Washington with a stern message for American leaders. His nation’s future as a democracy hung in the balance and it needed lethal aid from the U.S. Ukraine did not get what its president asked for. Instead, it got $46 million in “security” assistance that provided for everything short of armaments.
At the time, Republican members of the House and Senate criticized the Obama administration for not doing enough to help Ukraine resist the long arm of Russia’s regional sphere of influence. The U.S. went on to place sanctions on Russia as a result of their occupation of Crimea. Germany and France joined the U.S. to help negotiate the Minsk Agreement, an accord aimed to broker de-escalation between Russia and Ukraine.
Fast forward to 2017.
The terms of Minsk have yet to be achieved, Russia still occupies Crimea and violence has once again escalated between Ukrainians and Russian loyalists in eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko recently even asked Germany to increase sanctions against Russia. While all of this is happening, I’m not sure President Trump has even had one substantive conversation with Ukraine’s leaders.
Our president has, however, had a number of conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin, a former KGB agent who ascended to power after a weakened Boris Yeltsin abruptly resigned on New Years Eve 1999, holds a firm belief that Russia has the right and obligation to intercede in other sovereign nations where there is a significant presence of Russian speakers or ethnic Russians. This concept is what motivated and justified Russia’s occupation of Crimea, and arguably eastern Ukraine, areas both largely populated by ethnic Russians.
While I have not been to eastern Ukraine, I have been to Crimea. Russian is undoubtedly the dominant language there. But, Crimea is clearly recognized by the international community as being within Ukraine’s national borders. As such, Russia’s occupation of Crimea is in direct violation of the 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and Russia.
The treaty explicitly states, “In accord with provisions of the UN Charter and the obligations of the Final Act on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the High Contracting Parties shall respect each other′s territorial integrity and reaffirm the inviolability of the borders existing between them.”
One can only wonder what the current state of play would be between Ukraine and Russia had the United States heeded President Poroshenko’s cry for lethal aid. I recognize that arming anyone against the Russians is tantamount to playing, say, Russian roulette. However, we’ve never been afraid of a proxy war before. As the leader of the free world, the United States has an obligation to assist fledgling democracies, especially those that have a history of occupation in Eastern Europe.
Almost three years later, the future of this region is in more jeopardy than ever.
All the United States government will commit to is a continuation of sanctions related to the Russian occupation of Crimea — sanctions that are clearly not getting the job done. We also are sending mixed messages on our willingness to loosen sanctions on Russia. The U.S. Treasury Department just announced they are easing sanctions on Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor agency of the KGB. Yes, this is reportedly a minor technical adjustment, but sends the wrong message to Eastern European nations who fear they may be the next Ukraine.
Thirty years after President Ronald Reagan declared, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” the United States, with a new Republican in the White House, risks empowering Russia to erect a new Iron Curtain.
We cannot back down. We cannot lift sanctions. We cannot give Russia an inch. The U.S. must always stand on the side of those who strive to live in a free, democratic and capitalist society.
Capri Cafaro (@thehonorablecsc) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a former member of the Ohio State Senate, where she was the Senate minority leader. She is now an Executive in Residence at American University’s School of Public Affairs.
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