Friday, September 19 2014

Tbilisi. Today the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on legislation, hours after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko addresses a joint meeting of Congress, the U.S. Senate official  site reports.

Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014, legislation that imposes broad sanctions on Russia's defense, energy, and financial sectors, as well as increases military and non-military assistance for Ukraine.

" President Putin has upended the international order and a slap on the wrist will not deter future Russian provocations," Menendez said. "In the face of Russian aggression, Ukraine needs our steadfast and determined support, not an ambiguous response. We are left with no choice but to apply tough sanctions against Russia, coupled with military assistance to Ukraine", reads the press-release.   

"Now is the time to increase the pressure on Putin and help strengthen Ukraine's leverage," said Corker.  "At a critical moment for Ukraine's future, this bill if implemented would both demonstrate our solidarity with the Ukrainian people and our commitment that Russia will pay an increasingly heavy price for its invasion of Ukraine."

The legislation requires the president to apply sanctions against: Rosoboronexport and other Russian defense firms that contribute to instability in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Syria; Companies worldwide that make significant investments in particular unconventional Russian crude oil energy projects; Gazprom, if the President determines that Gazprom is withholding significant natural gas supplies from member countries of NATO or further withholds such supplies from countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, or Moldova.

This legislation authorizes the president to provide military assistance to Ukraine, to include: providing defense articles, defense services, and training to the Government of Ukraine for the purpose of countering offensive weapons and reestablishing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, reads the press-release.

The bill designates Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia as major non-NATO allies and authorizes $10 million for the next three fiscal years to counter Russian propaganda in the former Soviet Union countries and prioritizes Russian-language broadcasting into Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.