Whitehouse Returns to U.S. After Attending OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, Austria

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), the Senate Ranking Member and Chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the "Helsinki Commission"), returned to the United States after leading a congressional delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly's 25^th Winter Meeting in Vienna, Austria.

In Vienna, Whitehouse and Wicker participated in committee meetings of the OSCE Parliament and huddled with OSCE PA President Pere Joan Pons and delegations from the UK, Canada, and Nordic and Baltic countries. Whitehouse released the following statement at the conclusion of the Assembly:

"I came to Vienna after visiting Kiev and Odesa, where the dark mid-winter windows of apartment blocks are the face of Russia's campaign of energy terror. Under this onslaught, the conduct of Ukrainians makes me proud to be a human being.

"What the Ukrainians need is not our applause, but U.S. weapons and support. Russia's appetite for conquest and cruelty cannot be slaked, it must be defeated. Pressure in negotiations should be on Russia's war criminals, not Ukraine's patriots.

"A broad consensus has emerged, echoed by my congressional colleagues and fellow OSCE parliamentarians, that the U.S. and our allies must cooperate to shut down Russia's shadow fleet and choke the Russian oil and gas economy. The U.S. and our allies must increase interdiction of the shadow fleet by helping track vessels, engaging when transponders are shut off, investigating the welter of shell corporations masking vessel owners, withdrawing insurance support, and assisting where appropriate in boarding, inspection, arrest, and seizure of the vessels. After meeting with our allies all across Europe, I'm increasingly confident we can get this done, together.

"In Munich and again in Vienna, I reminded my colleagues and U.S. allies that the world is close to, if not past, our climate point of no return. Fossil fuel influence and propaganda have been effective because climate has been about the future. That is no longer the case. The leading edge of climate upheaval is insurance upheaval, and that is happening now. The free-to-pollute business model is now lethal. That means we must defend at all costs the EU CBAM and encourage expanding it to the U.K., Australia, Canada, and others. It is our last lifeboat to avoid climate catastrophe."

Senator Whitehouse's participation in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly capped off a week of official congressional delegation travel across Europe.

Last weekend, Whitehouse and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) led a bipartisan delegation, CODEL McCain, to the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. Whitehouse and Graham led the delegation in bilateral meetings with several world leaders, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian dissident Yulia Navalnaya, among others. CODEL McCain issued a bipartisan, unanimous joint statement at the conclusion of the conference urging significantly increased interdiction of the shadow fleet that is servicing Russia's oil economy.

Senators Whitehouse and Richard Blumenthal travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday, where they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of his cabinet, visited Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, and toured a power plant to observe the scale and barbarity of Russia's attacks against Ukraine. Before visiting Ukraine, Whitehouse and Blumenthal held several meetings with allies and military personnel in Poland.

On Tuesday, Senators Whitehouse, Blumenthal, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Chris Coons (D-DE) traveled to Chisinau, Moldova. The delegation met with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu, President of the Parliament Igor Grosu, Vice President of the Parliament Doina Gherman and Defense Minister Anatolie Nosatii. The Senators also were briefed by Moldovan civil society on efforts to counter Russian disinformation and met with key defense personnel.

On Wednesday, Senators Whitehouse, Blumenthal, Shaheen, and Coons traveled to Odesa, Ukraine to reiterate the ironclad, bipartisan support for Ukraine in the U.S. Congress and among the American people. During the visit, the congressional delegation met with Ukrainian government and military officials, Ukrainian border guard personnel, port and maritime security leaders, American agriculture and logistics companies operating in Ukraine, and local faith, civic and private-sector leaders. The Senators received on-site briefings from Ukrainian and U.S. officials on air defense capabilities protecting Black Sea ports, the impact of Russian drone and missile strikes on critical infrastructure, and ongoing maritime security challenges.