00:00Thank you very much, Chairman Roger Wicker, and it's really impressive today that we have bipartisan participation in support of the people of Ukraine.
00:09While the title of the hearing is The Cost of a Bad Deal, the only individual standing in the way of peace in Ukraine is world criminal Putin.
00:19President Trump has graciously offered Putin a way out of the horrific mess that Putin created,
00:25yet Putin continues to insult and mock President Trump, killing the people of Ukraine in their homes.
00:34With the Putin invasion of February 24, 2022, the Russian troops were misled to be prepared with their dress uniforms for immediately a victory parade.
00:47But instead, the courageous President Vladimir Zelensky and the brave Ukrainian people have stood firm and made such a difference on behalf of liberty and freedom in the world.
00:58Putin's victory in Ukraine would be a catastrophe, not just for the people of Ukraine, but for every country living in the shadow of the Kremlin's imperial ambitions.
01:07Putin is waging a campaign of extermination against free people, so only crime is choosing liberty over tyranny.
01:15And he seeks to resurrect the failed Soviet Union.
01:20The stakes of the war stretch far beyond Ukraine's borders.
01:24If Putin is allowed to succeed, there will be more battered countries than Ukraine.
01:31We already see that Belarus has descended further into dictatorship,
01:35and we know that the actual President of Belarus is Svetlana Sikanovskaya.
01:42And so she should be recognized as a legitimate President.
01:46Additionally, we see that Moldova has been destabilized with the Russian troops still remaining in Transnistria,
01:57and never leaving in the Soviet era.
02:00Armenia, which is such a great country and is really so strong today,
02:07could be dragged back into and be subverted by Putin.
02:13And then the Republic of Georgia was crushed under the weight of the puppet regime by Putinists.
02:19And also, we have NATO allies of the Baltics that are threatened by Putin's attempt to resurrect the failed Soviet Union.
02:26I have been very fortunate to see firsthand the people of these countries want democracy, prosperity, and peace.
02:35But Putin wants just the opposite.
02:37He wants them poor, dependent, divided, and afraid.
02:41In Belarus, he props up the illegitimate regime of Alexander Lukashenko,
02:45who violently crushed the protests and invited the Russian troops to maintain order.
02:52And, again, the legitimate President is Svetlana Sikanovskaya.
03:01And additionally, in Moldova, Russian troops having never left Transnistria
03:07and trying to subvert the most recent elections, unfortunately, the people of Moldova stood firm.
03:12In Armenia, even as the people turned toward the West and with such an incredible Armenian-American community supporting,
03:23Russia has worked to undermine their sovereignty through military blackmail and economic pressure.
03:29Putin doesn't stop at propping up friendly dictators.
03:33He shows chaos wherever he can.
03:36He arms and finance extremists, spreads disinformation, exploits ethnic divisions to pit neighbors against neighbors.
03:43His goal is simple, to make democracy look weak and autocracy and authoritarianism inevitable.
03:50That is why peace in Ukraine, on Ukraine's terms, is critically important.
03:55A just and lasting peace will not only liberate Ukraine,
03:58it will send a message to Moscow, other neighbors, that freedom still has defenders and tyranny still has consequences.
04:06It will strengthen the hand of reformers and weaken the grip of corrupt regimes backed by Putin.
04:13And make no mistake, this matters to American families.
04:16Putin's victory will not stay continued to Eastern Europe.
04:20It will embolden America's enemies everywhere.
04:23But a Ukrainian victory will reinforce the message that aggression does not pay,
04:27and America stands for its values and interests alike.
04:31As I believe in America first, you must also believe in Putin last.
04:37A world where Moscow dominates its neighbors is not a world safe for American families or our allies.
