Congressman Cohen Urges OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be United in Support of Ukraine

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today addressed the Organization for Security and Cooperation's (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly and urged it to make a strong statement in support of Ukraine when it gathers in Birmingham, England, in July.

In his remarks, Co-Chairman Cohen said in part:

"Americans will come with a strong delegation and will be strongly supportive of Ukraine, and the European Union and the OSCE. America turned its heads away from Europe and turned its heads away from the OSCE during the administration that we just got rid of. We had four years in the dark and we're out of the dark and we're in the light. President Biden and his administration, and the Democrats in Congress – and in this circumstance, a bipartisan group in Congress – support the OSCE, support what we are doing in Ukraine, and support democracy around the world, and oppose Putin and Belarus.

"At the meetings in Birmingham, we need to do the strongest things we can to show our support for Ukraine, our support for democracy and against these countries – Russia and Belarus – who have violated the Helsinki Accords and every principle enunciated therein…

"We have seen what is clearly a genocide taking place in Ukraine. Putin made it clear when he said he was going to engage in a ‘special military operation.' The special military operation is: destroy Ukraine, to kill as many as possible…cities destroyed, reduced to rubble, cultural sites destroyed, people – children, young, old, you name it – murdered and raped. It's clear this is a genocide and we need to declare it as such in Birmingham and we need to do all we can to encourage the free world to come together. This is a fight for all of our democracies…"

See his entire remarks to the Assembly here.

# # #