WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing in Congress where witnesses described different aspects of Moscow’s aggression toward and occupation of parts of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova and advised on how America can help those countries push back against Russia.
The hearing was convened by the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs and was entitled “Antagonizing the Neighborhood: Putin’s Frozen Conflicts and the Conflict in Ukraine.”
The House of Representatives is one of the two elected, legislative bodies which comprise the Congress. The other is the Senate.
The committee heard from four witnesses – journalist Simon Ostrovsky, former U.S ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Dan Baer, International Republican Institute director for Eurasia Stephen Nix, and analyst at the International Crisis Group Olesya Vartanyan.
Representative William Keating, a Democrat from Massachusetts, chaired the hearing. He said the invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine “may be one of the most pressing foreign policy issues that this subcommittee faces. What happens there is important for the transatlantic relationship and to our national security.”
Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air National Guard who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is a Republican House member from Illinois, said Russia had intervened against Ukraine and Georgia because it was dismayed that “freedom and democracy were approaching their doorstep” and both countries had expressed interest in joining NATO.
He said that Ukraine and Georgia have been U.S. allies since gaining independence and that “continuous provocations by the Russian Federation must be dealt with….Democracy is not easy, it needs to be cared for and fought for.”
Baer told the committee that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin used Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova as “a testing ground for tactics he can deploy elsewhere, including against the United States and our allies.”
As examples of Moscow’s methods, he pointed to the invasion of Crimea six years ago by Russian forces with no identifying markings on their uniforms in contravention of the rules of war, using “non-state actors” in conflicts, weaponizing energy security, and cyberattacks.
Baer said that while many in the U.S. were “aghast” at Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, “none of our friends in Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova were surprised – they had been dealing with Russian active measures and opportunistic politicians who take advantage of them for years.”
He said that under Putin the famous aphorism of Prussian General and military thinker Carl von Clausewitz that ‘war is a continuation of politics by other means’ has been inverted. “For Putin, intervention in politics is the continuation of war by other means,” said Baer.
He drew the subcommittee’s attention to the fact that the administration of President Donald Trump will shortly be considering whether the U.S. remains a participant in the Treaty on Open Skies which allows unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the territory of its 35 signatories, including America, Russia, and Ukraine.
Baer said said it was important the treaty continued because: “The Open Skies treaty is a tool for showing support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”
He said that the Kremlin had tried to block the entry into NATO of Ukraine, Georgia, and others by occupying parts of their countries in the belief that the presence of hostile Russian troops on their territories would dissuade the Western military alliance from accepting Ukraine and Georgia as members because they would be seen as too unstable and potential flashpoint for war. “If we allow Russia to deny these countries the opportunity to make their own decisions about security arrangements simply by occupying parts of their country, that creates an incentive for Russia to do that elsewhere,” he said.
Baer added that it was important to remind Americans that U.S. security assistance to these countries was not a “one-way street” and, for example, Georgia had sent more than 10,000 soldiers over a decade to serve alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. It was, therefore, in America’s interests to develop its security relationship with Ukraine and Georgia.
Nix said that the U.S. government should support efforts by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to increase contacts with Ukrainians living in the areas under Russian occupation aimed at improving the quality of critical common services need by the populations on both sides of the conflict lines.
“The Ukrainian government has reinvigorated diplomatic efforts to increase pressure on the Kremlin to allow for the reintegration of these territories,” said Nix. “It is crucial that the United States does all it can to support the Zelensky government in these aims.”
An IRI poll, said Nix, showed that 82 percent of Ukrainians supported the goal of reintegrating their fellow citizens back into Ukraine.
Nix said he believed reunification was possible and told the committee that the U.S. and European sanctions against Russia should continue until there is progress toward the reintegration of the occupied territories.
Nix said that the U.S. government should also help Ukraine to fill “the information vacuum” in Donbas and Crimea as greater access to information for residents in those occupied areas would allow them to feel more included in the political process for their reintegration.
Ostrovsky became known for his insightful and courageous reporting in Crimea and the Donbas at the height of the conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 for Vice News. He is now a special correspondent for America’s Public Broadcasting Service.
Referring to Kremlin disinformation in Ukraine, committee chairman Keating asked Ostrovsky whether the U.S. was doing enough to help Kyiv penetrate the “informational barriers” erected by Moscow.
Ostrovsky said “there needs to be a wider recognition of this fact …..it is a serious problem.” He believes that attitudes among ordinary Russians had shifted, not in Putin’s favor, as polls have shown that many Russians apparently feel “buyer’s remorse” for the annexation of Crimea. That, the deteriorating economy and the fact that Putin has been in power so long are driving down the Russian president’s popularity ratings to their lowest level during his 20-years as leader, said Ostrovsky.
“So, while there is a lot of disinformation floating around, its purpose in a lot of cases is to confuse the situation rather than to push any kind of ideology by sending out confusing, often contradictory, narratives,” he said. He added that much of the deception was aimed at Russia’s population.
Ostrovsky said that six years ago he had been in Crimea reporting on Putin’s invasion of the peninsula and later reported on the takeover of Donbas by pro-Russian separatists.
He witnessed Russia’s intensive disinformation campaign, which he said fostered support for Moscow’s actions. One startling example of Kremlin disinformation was revealed by Russians responding to some of his reports. They sent photos of the same, apparently ordinary, woman making impassioned pro-separatist statements appearing under various names in different parts of Ukraine. It became obvious she was part of a deception campaign.
Ostrovsky said: “Same woman, different names. I started to realize that the ‘grassroots support’ for splitting from Ukraine might not be so grass roots after all. The protests that were gathering in front of the administration building [in the Crimean capital, Simferopol] and Ukrainian military bases were actually part of a massive propaganda effort that would become the hallmarks of Russia’s campaign to destabilize and dismember its southern neighbor.”
He said Kremlin propaganda convinced many in Crimea that power in Kyiv had been snatched by a “fascist junta” and that “gangs of violent skinheads” were heading for the peninsula to ban the Russian language through force.
“Nothing could have been further from the truth,” said Ostrovsky. “But Russian broadcasts at full tilt on every television in Russian-speaking homes in Ukraine sparked a war that has lasted six years and claimed close to 14,000 lives.”
He told the committee he had returned last December to Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine.
“Since Russia took effective control of Crimea those who disagreed with what has happened have had to leave or ended up in jail. The few that very occasionally protest openly are quickly bundled away in police vans and handed severe [court] sentences. In some cases they disappear entirely,” said ostrovsky.
He speculated that Moscow’s real motive for occupying the Donbas region was not to incorporate it into Russia but reintegration into Ukraine with a special status which would give it veto powers on decisions by the Kyiv government such as to seek membership of NATO or the European Union.
“Donbas residents are simply pawns in that game and are beginning to think that maybe things weren’t so bad before the war started after all, he said.”
Representative Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA operations officer and a Democratic House member from Virginia, called Moscow’s actions against Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova as “incompatible with our strategic interests in a prosperous and peaceful Europe.”
She said Washington had punished Moscow’s aggression against sovereign countries by imposing economic and other sanctions and “stiffening Ukraine’s and Georgia’s defense efforts through arms aid” and that “we must continue to defend Europe against Russia’s attempts to undermine the rule of law, democracy and sovereignty.”
She highlighted Russia’s increasingly aggressive actions in the Black Sea and the Kerch Straits linking it to the Azov Sea where, Spanberger said, Moscow is interfering with the transit of Ukraine’s civilian and naval vessels. Wants the U.S. to devise ways to support Kyiv to counter Moscow’s efforts to diminish Ukraine’s freedom of navigation.
Among those listening to the proceedings were Kyiv’s ambassador to Washington, Volodymyr Yelchenko, and a group of Ukrainian veterans of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, who were visiting the American capital.
The veterans included Oleksandr Tereschenko, until recently Ukraine’s deputy minister for veterans, and Yana Zinkevych, a former fighter who organized and leads a battalion of paramedics and is a member of the Ukrainian parliament. Both were severely wounded in the conflict. Tereschenko lost both his hands and Zinkevych was paralyzed and attended the hearing in a wheelchair.
A group of Ukrainian students from various universities around the U.S. where they are studying for one year also flew into Washington for the hearing to witness the American political process in action.
Keating, presiding over the hearing, said: “A hot war is going on in Ukraine right now….always keep in mind that all of these countries are in the front line….in terms of the hybrid warfare from Russia and they are in the front line with an active, hostile war that is occurring in Ukraine.
“We are honored to have with us here veterans from Ukraine. Your presence here is greatly appreciated to remind us that you are indeed the front line.”
