WASHINGTON – The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the representative organization of the Ukrainian American community, on June 18 sent a letter to President Donald Trump in anticipation of the U.S. president’s one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28-29.
The letter recounts the events of November 2018 and the illegal seizure and detention of 24 Ukrainian sailors by Russian naval forces in the Kerch Strait. As a result of those aggressive acts by Russia, President Trump had postponed his sidebar meeting with Mr. Putin at the previous G-20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2018.
In its letter, the UCCA requests President Trump to strongly condemn Russia’s aggressive acts against Ukraine, including the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula; to significantly increase sanctions against the Russian Federation for its continued malign activities in Ukraine; and to condemn the illegal imprisonment of over 70 Ukrainian political prisoners by the Russian Federation and to call for their immediate release.
The letter concludes by mentioning the Budapest Memorandum and the moral obligation the United States bears to take the lead in preserving Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.