Washington-Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Representative Michael T. McCaul, the Committee’s Ranking Member, today released the following statement on Russia’s destabilizing offer to provide military assistance to Belarus for the ongoing protests.
“We stand with the people of Belarus as they exercise their rights to protest and to demand a freer, more democratic country; their voices must be heard. Likewise, as the Kremlin tries to undermine yet another European country’s sovereignty and independence, we strongly condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reckless offer to provide military assistance to the Lukashenko regime in Belarus. We urge the Administration to continue to reject Moscow’s aggression, work with our European allies to support the Belarusian people, to demand the thousands of detained peaceful demonstrators are released, to condemn the Belarusian authorities excessive use of violence, and to defend Belarus’s sovereign right to chart its own future.".
