WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement urging Congress to take up legislation to put additional pressure on Putin after a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs hearing entitled “The Abduction of Ukrainian Children by the Russian Federation” which the Ranking Member attended:
“Despite the sixth visit by Special Envoy Witkoff to Moscow to negotiate with Putin, he has once again left empty handed. We’ve seen the Trump Administration literally roll out the red carpet for Putin in Alaska and endorse an initial ‘capitulation proposal’ for Ukraine. The Administration has done everything possible to appeal to Putin but failed to use every tool at its disposal to put real pressure on Putin to negotiate.
“This hearing reminded us that the Trump Administration is negotiating with a brutal, ruthless dictator who is not just intent on stealing Ukraine’s land but is also trafficking its children. Putin is trying to wipe Ukraine, its culture and its history off the map. The Trump Administration needs to be clear-eyed that negotiations with Putin are so much more complicated than a transactional business deal. A peace deal needs to guarantee that no one in Ukraine or Europe will be subjected to Putin’s brutality ever again.
“I urge the Senate to quickly pass Senator Graham’s legislation, the Designating the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act. This legislation passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in October with two other pieces of Russia-related legislation, including my bipartisan legislation to sanction China for propping up Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
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