Loading...

International

Senators Urge Trump to Provide Lethal Aid to Ukraine

15:35, Friday, 09 December, 2016
Senators Urge Trump to Provide Lethal Aid to Ukraine

A bipartisan group of senators called on President-elect Donald Trump in a letter Thursday to increase U.S. support to Ukraine and stand up to Russia’s aggressive behavior.

The 12 Republicans and 15 Democrats urged Mr. Trump to provide lethal military aid to Ukraine and to continue sanctions on Russia for moving to annex Crimea as well as for its destabilizing actions in Eastern Ukraine.

“This conflict in the heart of Europe is far from over,” the senators wrote. “These actions in Crimea and other areas of eastern Ukraine dangerously upend well-established diplomatic, legal, and security norms.”

The Republicans who signed the letter include the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz,), along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), a former Republican presidential candidate, and Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio), who recently met with senior officials in Mr. Trump’s transition team. Mr. Portman and Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.,) led the effort.

The presidential transition team didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment, but Mr. Trump while campaigning offered praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged closer cooperation with Moscow, particularly in the Middle East.

The senators said in the letter that they wanted to ensure that U.S. allies don’t question Washington’s commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the global security framework.

“We believe that Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea should never be accepted, nor should we lift sanctions imposed on Russia for its behavior in eastern Ukraine until key provisions of the Minsk Agreement are met,” they wrote, referring to a ceasefire agreement reached in 2015 that has yet to be fully implemented. “U.S. leadership on maintaining such transatlantic sanctions should remain a priority.”

The Obama administration has provided Ukraine with tens of millions of dollars of nonlethal aid but hasn’t given the country weapons or munitions.

Mr. Trump’s views toward Russia have rattled lawmakers, diplomats and Obama administration officials as relations between the former Cold War foes hit a low point after Russia’s actions in Ukraine, followed by failed efforts to cooperate in Syria and what U.S. officials charge were Russian attempts to interfere with U.S. elections.

“If we got along well, that would be good,” Mr. Trump said in the third presidential debate. “If Russia and the United States got along well and went after ISIS, that would be good,” he said, referring to Islamic State.

At one point on the campaign trail, Mr. Trump indicated he would consider recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Mr. Trump’s pick for National Security Adviser, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, has urged closer relations with Russia. One of Mr. Trump’s potential picks for secretary of state, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has spoken against U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Mr. Tillerson in 2011 struck a deal that granted Exxon access to prized Arctic resources in Russia, but the deal was later blocked by sanctions by the U.S. and its allies imposed on Russia after the start of the Ukraine conflict.

8207 | 0
Facebook