Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today announced that he and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) have introduced a Senate resolution supporting Ukrainian democracy in the lead-up to Ukraine’s upcoming election on March 31.
Merkley and Durbin’s resolution expresses concern about potential Russian efforts to disrupt voting or undermine the legitimacy of results, and asks the Trump administration to brief Congress after the election on the scope and scale of any Russian interference in the Ukrainian presidential campaign.
The Merkley-Durbin resolution expresses support for the principles that “the United States does not prefer any particular candidate in the Ukrainian Presidential election and seeks only a transparent and democratic election that reflects the will of the Ukrainian people; the United States will continue to support democracy and good governance in Ukraine including anti-corruption initiatives as well as independent media and rule of law strengthening efforts to support the ideals of Ukraine’s revolution of dignity; and that the United States should continue to work with allies to provide additional capacity building and technical support in order to deter gainst Russian efforts to disrupt voting or undermine the legitimacy of the results.”