Wilmington, DE – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined a group of eight of his Senate colleagues in co-sponsoring a Senate Resolution condemning Russia’s ongoing illegal occupation of Crimea. The bipartisan resolution comes as President Trump visits Europe to attend the NATO Summit in Brussels, as well as meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Affirming the Senate’s full support for the sanctions the United States and the European Union have imposed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the Senators’ resolution calls 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.
The resolution, led by U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rob Portman (R-Ohio.), co-Chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, was also co-sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); Pat Toomey (R-Pa.); Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Ed Markey (D-Mass.); Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio.)