Foreign Affairs Committee Statement from Congressman Robert Wexler on US-Russia Relations in the Aftermath of the Georgia Crisis:

Chairman Berman, I want to thank you for holding today’s hearing. I also want to welcome Assistant Secretary Dan Fried. I have great respect for Ambassador Fried who is one of our nation’s finest diplomats. 

I want to join you in strongly condemning the Russian government’s military invasion into Georgia on August 8 – which has resulted in the needless deaths of countless Georgians, led to thousands of internally displaced refugees, and caused the destruction of numerous cities, ports and infrastructure.
The gross human rights violations committed by the Russian military or carried out under their watch is unacceptable and in violation of international law. I was appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate force used by the Russian military which unconscionably targeted and killed noncombatant Georgian civilians. 

Russia’s decision to “punish Georgia” by trampling on its sovereignty and territorial integrity has raised the ugly specter of a Soviet Union style power grab and has created an atmosphere of deepening distrust and hostility between the West and Russia as well as instability and fear in many European and Central Asian nations.

It is essential at this difficult juncture that the United States and our allies in Europe continue to stand with the Georgian people and its government in rejecting Moscow’s illegal recognition of independence for the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and their open and misguided efforts to forcibly remove the democratically elected Georgian President from office.   
The US and our North Atlantic Treaty Organizations (NATO) allies must also remain firm with Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev and remain resolute that it will not be “business as usual” between the West and Russia until the Kremlin fully complies with the six point ceasefire agreement it agreed to. 

To this end, Russia must remove its troops from Georgian territory including the breakaway regions and allow European Union Monitors to deploy along with a more robust Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) presence. 
Despite an agreement reached between Russian and European leaders yesterday, to withdraw troops and allow for EU monitors to be deployed, I remain deeply skeptical of Russian intentions given their failure to live up to past agreements.

Mr. Chairman -- I also want to express my strong support for your efforts along with those of Senator Biden and the Administration to shape a bipartisan aid package for Georgia that will address the humanitarian needs of the Georgian people.

American aid is critical to Georgia’s future as the Georgian people rebuild their shattered lives and communities. 

American assistance along with that of the Europe and the international community is also necessary to ensure that Georgia remains on its democratization track and that they are further integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community.

Mr. Chairman, in the coming months, it is essential that we thoroughly review this Administration’s efforts to prevent the conflict between Georgia and Russia as well as our efforts to end the bloodshed once it started.  We must also review a failed American-Russia policy that placed too much stock in President Bush’s personal relationship with Vladamir Putin and did little to strengthen the US-Russian bilateral relationship.

As one of today’s witnesses Michael McFaul states in his testimony “had the international community – led by an attentive and proactive American government – engaged both the Russian and Georgian governments in an effort to first stop the violence immediately, and then more ambitiously, to mediate a permanent solution to Georgia’s border disputes, this war might have been avoided.”

Despite Russia’s aspirations to be a leading world power, its irresponsible and illegal actions in Georgia and the Kremlin’s continuous manipulation of energy supplies for political purposes suggest otherwise.  To that end, it is critical the United States, Europe and the international community draw a line in the sand and hold Russia accountable for its actions. 

Mr. Chairman, as the US and Europe work together to confront the security challenges of a resurgent Russia, it is essential that we renew and double our efforts to promote democracy, human rights and civil society in Russia as well as in the former Soviet States. This is especially important in those nations like Georgia and Ukraine who wish to join or create stronger links to Euro-Atlantic institutions such as the NATO and the EU.
While I strongly believe we are not on the brink of another cold war, it is clear that we cannot continue “business as usual” with Russia.

I look forward to hearing the testimony of Assistant Secretary Fried as well as from the distinguished witnesses in the second panel -- Michael McFaul and Frederick Kagan.

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