The president of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menéndez, reacted to Russia’s attack against Ukraine and says that from the Upper House and from his position to deal with foreign affairs, he will spare no resources to support the Ukrainian people.
“This cowardly attack was unprovoked but it clarifies for the whole world the need to expel the current leaders of the Kremlin from the international community. Today should mark a historic change in the way the world sees and treats the despot of Moscow (Vladimir Putin),” Senator Menendez said in a statement.
At the same time, he adds that the coalition of Western countries with United States and the European Union at the front “we cannot afford to sit idly by when we see innocent Ukrainian men, women and children suffer,” he pointed out.
His commitment, he says, “as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I am committed to ensuring that the United States fulfills its responsibility to impose the maximum consequences on Putin, the Russian economy and those who have allowed and facilitated this total outrage of the sovereignty of Ukraine.
For his part, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, saw Russia’s attacks against different cities in Ukraine as “very worrying”, as the actions were carried out even “near the Polish border”.
“This is the danger of miscalculation and human error that can quickly lead to catastrophic escalation. But (the Ukrainians) are brave and tough fighters and, as the world will soon learn, they have already inflicted damage on the Russian invaders,” Rubio said on Twitter.
For Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, in the face of Russia’s continued measures to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty, the United States must raise its level of sanctions to the maximum along with its international partners to “impose additional crippling sanctions” against Putin because “we will not tolerate Russian aggression ”, he expressed in a statement.
Condemnation from the OAS leadership
For its part, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), also “condemns the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine” while calling on the Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin, for a “cessation of hostilities that he has irresponsibly initiated”.
Through a statement, the secretariat of the hemispheric organization based in Washington considers that “Russian aggression constitutes a crime against international peace. The armed attack perpetrated against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is reprehensible and constitutes a very serious act in violation of international law.”
According to the organization’s leadership, Russia’s actions constitute “an attack against the peace and security of humanity and its acts directed against its neighboring country are a “supreme international crime”, in light of international law.
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