Date: 1992-06-24
Speaker: I PRESSLER (republican)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. today I rise to record my strong reservations over considering S. 2532. the Freedom Support Act. on the Senate floor while the situation In the former Soviet Union degenerates into violence. This past weekend over 200 people. including innocent civilians. were killed in independent Moldova. May apparently were killed by Russian soldiers. Additional reports of this nature continue to come to my attention. The overt involvement of the Russian military and recent statements by Russian leaders supporting military intervention to "support the oppressed Russian minority" are actions that should. not be rewarded with generosity by United States taxpayers. If the violence in Moldova. with the direct participation of the - Russian Army. does not end. a precedent will be set for the use of Russian military force in possible conflicts extending into the Baltic States and other areas of the former Soviet Union. Disgruntled military commanders in the Baltic States may turn to aggression in response to demands by the Baltic citizens and governments for Russian troops to leave their territories. Mr. President. there is an unseemly eagerness in Washington to reward President Boris Yeltsin for his leadership and for his fine speech to Congress last week. The thought is that massive foreign aid can keep him in power against the entrenched Communists in the Russian military and bureaucracy. I commend President Yeltsins words in support of openness. nonviolence. and peace. Yet. the facts in Moldova tell a different story and harken back to Russian imperialism. While President Yeltsin his called for mediation of the conflict. he also has warned the Moldovan government: "In this case. we (Russia] must react to defend people and stop the bloodshed. We have the strength to do that." At the same time. the militaryincluding Russian Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi and the Commander in Chief of the CIS armed forces. Marshal Evgenii Shaposhnikovhave urged action by the military. Mr. President. the situation would not be as it is today if the Soviet Army. now the Russian Army. had stayed out of the conflict in the beginning. The root cause of this conflict is the illegal presence of the 14th Army of Russia in the territory of independent Moldova. For months. the 14th Army has sold arms to the Communist separatists in Moldova and has overtly declared its support for secession of the Transdniester region of Moldova. The Russian 14th Amy has worked side by side with the Dniester National Guard to gain control of the Tranadniester and invade Bessarabia. the area of Moldova between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers. The Moldovans have been outnumbered greatly In the struggle against both of these wellarmed groups. It is important to note that the leaders of the Dniester Republic supported the hardliners coup attempt in Moscow last August. They represent Communist orthodoxy. They are not protecting the people of Transdniestria. but are using them as bargaining chips in their game to restore the Soviet Union. Last year I introduced a resolution supporting the people of Moldova in their struggle for selfdetermination and independence from the Soviet Union. The Romanian people of Moldova were the fourth group of victims of the NaziSoviet pact. The land of Moldova. not composed of the Tranedniester region. was seized by the Soviet Red army from Romania in 1940. The Government of Moldova did not choose its current borders. Yet. according to international law. Transdniestria belongs. to the Republic of Moldova. It is home to Moldovans. who represent 40 percent of the population. as well as Ukrainians and Russians whose Interests also must be taken into account. Mr. President. I commend the administration for urging the Russian Government to remove the 14th Army. Under no circumstances should Russian troops be stationed In or used In a foreign country Intervene in any conflict within that foreign nation. Additionally. I urge an end to the supply of Russian arms to the separatists in the Transdniester. Finally. the State Department should urge the Russian Government to end immediately the current economic blockade of Moldova. At this time. over 60 percent of natural gas supplies to Moldova have been cut and railway transportation links have been served. Such economic sabotage is a violation of the basic human rights of the people of Moldova. It Is also an act of international violence. Mr. President. I firmly believe that United States assistance efforts should be conditioned upon the cessation of Russian military violations of the sovereignty of its neighborsboth In Moldova and in the Baltic States.