U.S. Bill Backs More Defense Spending For Europe, Ukraine
By Mike Eckel
WASHINGTON -- A key U.S. congressional committee has backed a substantial increase in defense spending to reassure European allies jittery about Russian military maneuvers.
Lawmakers on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee also voted April 28 to allocate $150 million to help train and equip Ukrainian government forces in their fight against Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country.
But the bill appears to stop short of heeding Kyiv’s repeated requests for weaponry other than the defense equipment Washington has been providing to date.
At $610 billion, the legislation is one of the largest single annual budget measures considered by Congress, covering a sweeping range of U.S. defense policy. This year’s package authorizes more money for more advanced fighter jets, new navy ships, and cyberwarfare, as well as more mundane matters like service members’ salaries and health-care expenses.
But the bill also reflects foreign policy priorities, and the alarm that many lawmakers and policy officials have voiced regarding Russia’s stepped-up military actions in Ukraine, Syria, and elsewhere figures notably in the legislation.
Lawmakers backed an administration proposal called the European Reassurance Initiative, а $3.4 billion effort to increase the U.S. military presence in Eastern Europe. The Pentagon is planning to increase the number of combat brigades rotating into Europe, as well as station heavy weaponry and equipment in some places.
"I think the lack of debate about the European Reassurance Initiative is a reflection that there is a pretty broad consensus on what the administration has proposed," said Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. "If anything, there may be people who want to add more money, not less."
Committee members also took aim at a key treaty that authorizes countries to conduct surveillance flights over one another’s territory to monitor military forces. The Treaty on Open Skies has been used by both the United States and Russia to gather information, but U.S. officials in February publicly complained about a Russian request for a flight using advanced digital cameras.
“I cannot see why the United States would allow Russia to fly a surveillance plane with an advanced sensor over the United States to collect intelligence,” Mac Thornberry (Republican-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in February.
The bill passed by the committee on April 28 aims to cut off funding for cooperation with Russia on U.S. overflights until intelligence officials say there is no threat from the flights.
It also tackles the question of another major arms agreement: the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. The United States has reported for the past three years -- most recently on April 11 -- that Russia has violated the 1987 treaty, which is considered a bedrock Cold War arms-control agreement.
Moscow has strenuously denied any violations, but the Defense Department has drawn up several options to respond to the alleged violations, including reportedly putting missiles back in Europe.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, meanwhile, has declined to implement the proposals. The House legislation aims to force the White House’s hand by withholding Defense Department funding.
Committee lawmakers also debated restrictions on the use of Russian-built rocket engines in launching U.S. military satellites. Since U.S. sanctions were imposed on Russia following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, American officials have proposed curtailing the use of the RD-180 engines, which are built by a Russian state-owned corporation.
But Air Force officials have said that there won’t be a viable American-built alternative to the Russian-built engines for several years.
“There’s no reason to line Putin’s pockets right now,” committee member Duncan Hunter (Republican-California) said. “Just realize that, when we vote yes or no, that if you vote yes, you are literally contributing directly to Russian military modernization.”
Lawmakers ultimately voted to raise the cap on the number of Russian rocket engines.
One other substantial policy change included a requirement that American women be eligible to be drafted into the military. Under existing U.S. law, all men between 18 and 25 years old are legally required to register with the federal government, potentially to be drafted in the event of war.
Though able to serve in all branches of the U.S. armed forces, women have long been barred from combat positions, as well as exempted from registering for the draft.
Late last year, however, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that all combat positions would now be open to women for the first time. The bill passed by the committee on April 28 broadens the effort with a measure that would require women to register as well.
The 60-2 vote on the entire defense bill pushes it for a vote by the full House of Representatives, expected next month.
It would then head to the Senate, where John McCain (Republican-Arizona), who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, is widely expected to make more changes.
Ukraine Says Stronger Cease-Fire Needed To Make Political Progress
By RFE/RL
Ukraine told the UN Security Council that its cease-fire with separatists in the east must be strengthened before progress can be achieved on a political solution to the two-year conflict.
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko suggested the Orthodox Easter holiday this weekend might provide an opportunity to shore up the truce after a surge of violations in recent months.
"If we can start with that, we can then proceed to withdrawal of forces and resolving of all the problems -- demining, humanitarian problems -- all the way down to a political resolution," he told the council on April 28.
It was the first Security Council meeting on Ukraine since December. Ukraine requested the meeting to discuss cease-fire violations in the eastern Donetsk region that OSCE monitors say have reached worrying levels over the past few weeks.
Ukraine detailed accusations that Russia is providing military backing for the separatists, a claim Moscow rejects.
"Russia has organized and deployed in Donbas a 34,000-strong hybrid military force consisting of regular Russian troops as well as of foreign and local militants," Prystaiko said.
"Russian generals and military officers provide direct command-and-control of this illegal military entity [which is] impressively heavily armed," he said.
Prystaiko dismissed Russian claims that the separatists' arms were purchased in local hardware stores.
"Last time I checked, you will hardly be able to buy a decent knife in Ukrainian hardware stores, not to mention the multiple-launch rocket systems and jet flamethrowers," he said.
The United States, France, and Britain back Ukraine's assertions and have blamed Russian aggression for starting the conflict.
"What is happening today is the result of Russia's violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which began with its occupation of Crimea more than two years ago and expanded with substantial military on the ground and weapons support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine," U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power told the council.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin countered that the Ukrainian crisis was provoked by a "coup d'etat with external support," and rejected claims that the source of conflict was "Crimea's union with Russia."
Moreover, Ukraine's case before the council was "very disappointing," he said, particularly because it lacked specifics on achieving peace.
"Over the entire crisis, the UN has been used as a propaganda platform," he said. "There is a lot of rhetoric but no specific plan about how to implement the Minsk agreement" forged in February 2015, he said.
Churkin said he hopes the cease-fire will hold over the upcoming holiday weekend.
"Easter is one thing that continues to unite us, Russia and Ukraine," he said.
Russia sought to circulate a resolution reaffirming the UN's commitment to the Minsk agreement, but failed to gain consensus approval because it also called for an investigation into the killing of Russian protesters in Odesa in May 2014 without mentioning violations by separatist forces.
Foreign ministers from France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia are expected to meet in early May to try to further the peace effort outlined in the Minsk agreement.
With reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa
UN Raises Ukraine Death Toll Estimate To 9,333
The United Nations on April 28 raised its estimate of the total killed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine to 9,333 from 9,160 in March.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Taye-Brook Zerihoun told the UN Security Council that the total number of casualties now stands at 30,729, including 9,333 people killed and 21,396 injured.
He said the latest incident occurred on April 27, when shelling killed at least four civilians and injured at least eight people in Olenivka near the city of Donetsk.
Zerihoun said that fighting has escalated in recent weeks to levels not seen since August 2014, when it was at its most intense. He called on all parties to cease hostilities.
He criticized both sides for hindering access to an international monitoring mission put in place under the February 2015 cease-fire agreement between Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany. But he said that restrictions on monitors were more common in areas held by Russia-backed separatists.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, April 28. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our ongoing coverage.