The following letter was sent to President Barack Obama by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America on September 1. A copy was sent also to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Dear Mr. President:
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, the largest representation of Americans of Ukrainian descent, is deeply troubled by the participation of Vladimir Putin in the upcoming G-20 Leaders’ Summit taking place in China on September 4-5, 2016.
Over the past two years Russia has illegally occupied sovereign Ukrainian territory and conducted a hybrid war in eastern Ukraine, which has sadly cost Ukraine close to 10,000 lives, wounded over 20,000 people and displaced over 1.4 million. From May 1 to August 29 of this year alone, at least 107 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 576 wounded in combat on the eastern front. Movements of Russian troops, tanks, artillery and other material into the illegally occupied territories of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine continue. Let us not forget that it was the Russian Federation that supplied the Buk missile system that shot down Flight MH-17 in July 2014, murdering 298 innocent lives.
The UCCA finds it reprehensible that world leaders would consider meeting with President Putin to discuss global economic growth and increasing trade and investment, while the Russian Federation continues to illegally occupy Crimea and wage a hybrid war in Ukraine’s Donbas region. It is our firm belief that, given these actions, the Russian Federation must not be allowed to participate in such a forum as the G-20 until such time as it de-occupies the Crimean peninsula and abides by international law. Russia’s unrelenting aggressive behavior vis-à-vis Ukraine is dangerously destabilizing the international legal system, and the UCCA strongly feels that the security of the U.S. (and the world’s democracies) lies in the expansion of democracy and mutual security guarantees, not the appeasement of imperial states. Increasing economic cooperation with the Russian Federation today would only serve to fuel President Putin’s aggression against its neighbors.
We respectfully ask you, as the leader of the world’s greatest democracy and a strategic partner of Ukraine, to affirm the United States’ steadfast commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by strongly advocating for the suspension of the Russian Federation from the G-20 and President Putin’s participation in the Leaders’ Summit on September 4-5, and to increase sanctions on Russia for its continued illegal occupation and war against Ukraine.
On behalf of the UCCA, we remain,
Respectfully yours,
Tamara Olexy
President
Marie Duplak
Executive Secretary