In a combined effort to muster support to enact the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 (House Resolution 5782 and Senate version 2828), the Estonian American National Council organized a focused effort to communicate a strong message to Congress that these bills were an important step toward ensuring military and security assistance to Ukraine, and putting Russia on notice that it cannot impose its will on Ukraine or any other country. Provisions of the legislation also provide for support to the Baltic countries.
Karl Altau, Managing Director of the Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC), said “that the Ukrainian community and organizations were extremely grateful for our help, and our fellow Latvian and Lithuanian organizations were very impressed by the contributions of ERKU and the Estonian community.”
Shortly after the EANC annual meeting in September, 2014, Marju Rink-Abel, President of EANC, directed that a communication outreach campaign be established to make immediate contact with members of both houses of Congress to give further gravity to the importance of enacting these bills and other resolutions. A resolution, though not law, is important in that it expresses the will of Congress, the representatives of the people of the United States.
One of the resolutions, the Crimea Annexation Non-recognition Act (House Resolution 5241) was introduced by Representatives Gerald Connolly (D-VA) and Steve Chabot (R-OH). It ensures that the United States does not recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea nor take any action that would imply such recognition. It communicates the seriousness of this situation to Putin and that his actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The measure prohibits the United States from financing or guaranteeing investments in Crimea with Russia as an intermediary, and permits the United States to deny entry to the United States Crimean ships that carry Russian customs documentation, prohibit government officials to visit Crimea, and restrict certain forms of aid to countries that recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Coordinated by Matti Prima, the outreach included several meetings with members of the House and Senate across the country. Contacts were made in various states including Michigan, Washington, Ohio, North Dakota, New Jersey, New York, and California. Direct meetings were held with nearly all legislators contacted by EANC members who were constituents of each legislator. Aavo Reinfeldt, an EANC member, and Karl Altau traveled through the halls of Congress visiting legislators who were in direct contact with our EANC members. EANC’s campaign made it ever more effective for JBANC to visit and meet with legislators in order to reinforce our interest in passing such resolutions. Despite fears that the Congress would end the session of Congress without passing the needed legislation to support Ukraine, a last-minute push enabled the passage of Senate 2828 on December 11, 2014, which was then signed into law by President Obama.
JBANC’s meetings resulted in new members of Congress joining the Baltic Caucus, along with casting votes for these resolutions.
The new 114th Congress has already introduced a number of new resolutions to support Ukraine. It is also important that the U.S. follow up and implement the provisions of the Ukraine Freedom Support Act.
EANC’s outreach included other assistance such as lobbyist Jim Dolan from Minneapolis, who reached out to over 20 members of Congress with whom he has had longstanding relationships. The outreach also spread to various other cultural groups to help contribute to and focus this effort.
Passage of the legislation has paved the way for other bills and resolutions to be recognized and reviewed with much greater scrutiny and interest by our legislators.
We invite all of you to write your Representatives and Senators. Your individual involvement is equally important in stating our collective concerns about Putin and Russia’s aggressive acts.
A sample template of a letter you may wish to emulate is on the EANC Facebook page and website, www.estosite.org. Or, you may reach out to Matti Prima, EANC board member, to assist with your approach, at Matti.prima@gmail.com, (609) 865-8412.
Matti Prima
EANC Board Member
