U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) led a group of Republican senators in calling on the Trump administration to pursue a tough-minded and principled policy toward Russia, as well as active dialogue in areas of mutual interest.
U.S. Sens. Todd Young (R-IN), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Joni Ernst (R-IA) Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joined Gardner in sending the letter to President Donald Trump.
“The United States should unequivocally condemn — and take proactive steps to stem — the continued Russian aggression in Ukraine,” the senators wrote. “Russia has invaded Ukraine and illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula, in violation of international law, and has directly abetted the so-called ‘separatist rebels’ in eastern Ukraine.”
Since 2014, more than 10,000 Ukrainians have died in the conflict, and the violence has created as many as 1.5 million internally displaced persons.
“The most recent escalation of fighting along the ‘line of contact’ in eastern Ukraine should serve as a reminder of Russia’s nefarious intentions,” the letter said.
At the same time, the senators wrote that Russia’s cooperation was essential in situations like nuclear arms control, counter-terrorism, drug trafficking and promoting public health.
“We should maintain active and ongoing dialogue with Russia on these and other areas of mutual interests, as every U.S. president has done since the end of the Cold War,” the letter states. “However, while we should seek common ground with Russia in the areas of mutual interest, we must never pursue cooperation with Russia at the expense of our fundamental interests of defending our allies and promoting our values.”
The Trump administration should also maintain current U.S. sanctions against Russia and Russian entities, the letter continues, and impose new sanctions when “necessary and merited by Russian behavior.”
The senators said the United States should not enter into any military or diplomatic agreement with Russia regarding the future of Syria until Moscow halts its military operations and ceases support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad. “It is plainly evident that despite Russian claims to the contrary, Moscow’s main goal is not the defeat of the Islamic State, but the preservation of the Assad regime at any cost,” the letter said.
The Pentagon said in February 2016 that only 10 percent of Russian airstrikes had targeted the Islamic State. Other estimates have put the civilian death toll in Syria from Russian shelling at 4,700.
“Furthermore, we must recognize and counter the active cyber and information warfare Russia is conducting against the United States and Western democracies, including attempted interference in our democratic elections process,” the letter states.
According to the 2016 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, Russian cyber operations are likely to target U.S. interests to support several strategic objectives, including intelligence gathering to support Russian decision-making in the Ukraine and Syrian crises.
“The United States must have a firm response to this belligerent behavior from Moscow, which should include diplomatic actions, economic consequences, as well as a strengthened military posture in Europe,” the letter said.
The senators concluded that the president must relay to Moscow that the values of democracy, human rights, transparency and accountability are central to U.S. foreign policy — and are non-negotiable.