NEWARK – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published the below reaction to President Trump’s dismissal of Congressional limitations in the FY19 Defense Authorization bill on recognizing Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea.
“This signing statement is troubling because, yet again, the President is showing the world he cannot be trusted when it comes to standing by U.S. commitments and promoting our interests over his own. Congress agreed the United States should never recognize Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea and codified this view in the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act. Last month, I welcomed a statement from the Administration saying it would not do so. Now, again we have to call on the President to unequivocally stand strong for the United States and our allies and against Kremlin aggression.”
Last month, The Senate Foreign Relations Committee adopted a Menendez-Portman Resolution affirming the Senate’s full support for the sanctions the United States and the European Union have imposed against Russia for its illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory. The resolution called on the Trump Administration to formalize a policy of non-recognition of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. The United States adopted a firm non-recognition policy during the Cold War with the Welles Declaration, which condemned the forced annexation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union.
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