(This story has been updated)
WASHINGTON – Sens. Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal introduced legislation Thursday that would terminate all U.S. assistance to any country that recognizes annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin formally annexed occupied Ukrainian territories – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson – on Friday during an official ceremony.
President Joe Biden on Friday said the United States and its allies would impose additional sanctions on people and organizations involved in the attempted annexations.
“The United States condemns Russia’s fraudulent attempt today to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory,” Biden said in a statement. “Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere.”
“Make no mistake: these actions have no legitimacy,” the president continued. “The United States will always honor Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. We will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically, including through the $1.1 billion in additional security assistance the United States announced this week.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said Putin thinks he can “bully the democratic world” but “freedom-loving nations will not be cowed.”
“These referenda were orchestrated through violence and coercion, with the results predetermined according to Putin’s designs long before the first ballots were forced,” Hoyer said in a statement. “Their results reflect nothing less than his desperation in the face of military defeats and have no connection to the will of the people living in those areas.”
“Make no mistake: Ukraine has a right to defend itself against invasion and to liberate its territories and its citizens from enemy occupation,” the lawmaker said.
Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, said in a press conference Thursday that “any nation that aids and abets Vladimir Putin in this absolutely illegal action ought to be held responsible for its complicity.”
“No economic aid, no military aid to any country that recognizes this annexation,” the senator said.
The bipartisan legislation is being offered in two forms, as a stand-alone bill and as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which is expected to be taken up after the November elections.
Blumenthal said that he and Graham would also consider a resolution for unanimous adoption to respond as quickly as possible to the potential annexation.
“It is a land grab, it’s a steal, and it is another craven, brazen tactic by Vladimir Putin to test the West’s support for Ukraine, and we are having none of it, nor should any other nation,” Blumenthal said.
The bill would stop all nations recognizing the annexed territories from receiving U.S. aid of any kind.
“You will have a choice here. If you side with Putin to recognize his illegal annexation of parts of Ukraine, you will lose all support from the United States and we’ll do everything in our power to marginalize you on the world stage,” Graham, R-South Carolina, said.
Blumenthal said he and his colleague expect support from senators in both parties.
The pair sponsored a Senate resolution – unanimously adopted in July – calling upon the secretary of state to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Countries under such a designation face financial restrictions and bans on defense exports, but the designation also includes sanctions against other countries engaging in certain trade with a state sponsor of terrorism.
Four countries are currently designated as state sponsors of terrorism: including Syria, Iran, North Korea, and most recently, Cuba.
Russia’s allies – including India, Brazil, and Turkey – disapprove of the planned annexation and some have openly condemned it, Blumenthal said, meaning “Putin has no friends on this issue.”
Graham also announced plans to propose a “small change” in U.S. law to allow investigators from the International Criminal Court to operate in the United States to seek evidence of Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine.
“We will continue this effort to hold accountable nations that fail to side with international law, the fight for freedom, and independence in Ukraine,” Blumenthal said.
In the Senate’s continuing resolution, passed on Thursday, Ukraine is budgeted to receive another $12 billion dollars in aid, Graham said, which would provide Ukraine financial backing to continue fighting Russia into 2023.
Russia’s potential threat of using nuclear weapons is “nuclear blackmail,” Graham said, and if Putin were to explode a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, the senator said he would view it as a direct attack on NATO.
Radiation spread would not be contained to Ukraine, Blumenthal said, becoming an attack in “practical reality” with catastrophic consequences, especially in Poland.
“As Putin becomes more provocative, we have to stand up, not stand down,” Graham said.