[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6] [Senate] [Pages 8350-8351] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]AGREEMENT REACHED IN VIENNA PROVIDES A FRAMEWORK FOR RESTORING PEACE IN YUGOSLAVIA AND KOSOVO The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewomen for giving me the opportunity to go forward. Mr. Speaker, I, too, had the opportunity to join my colleagues in the trip to Vienna to meet with leaders of the Russian Duma. Mr. Speaker, in this audience tonight we have some young people who are visiting our Nation's Capitol, and as I was looking up there getting ready to speak, I was reminded of the time when I was in school at that age, and we had in this country a different type of relationship with Russia. It was the height of the Cold War, and at school they used to do drills. Some people will remember the drills. They were called duck and cover drills. We would have to, anticipating there would be a nuclear attack, we would actually have to get down under our desks, cover our heads, and close our eyes so we would not see the flash that was supposed to be a nuclear attack. Mr. Speaker, that was an era of terror. It was an era when the United States and Russia were at odds over the great global consequences of whether capitalism or communism would rule the earth. Have we come a long way from those days? Yes. We worked throughout the seventies to build down nuclear arms, we worked throughout the eighties to reestablish a relationship with Russia, and in the nineties we have in the United States been responsible for helping Russia rebuild itself economically, and assisted in so many ways as partners in peace. But yet, Mr. Speaker, that very peace and that partnership has been threatened by the Balkan conflict, because Russia has seen this conflict in other terms, and only a week ago the leader of the Yablako faction in Russia, Vladimir Luhkin, was quoted in [[Page 8351]] worldwide news reports as saying a blockade of the port in Montenegro would be a direct path to nuclear escalation, setting aside years and years of progress that we made and launching us right back into the Cold War. How important it was to have Members of this Congress go to Vienna, Austria, to sit down with that very same leader and other leaders of the Duma, the leader of Mr. Chernomyrdin's party, one of the leaders of the Communist party, to sit down with those individuals face-to-face, sharing our common human interest in protecting the life of this planet and sharing our interest in relieving the suffering of the Kosovar Albanians and of the people who are being bombed throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. So we came together as brothers and sisters in search of peace. We came together hoping to create a framework for peace which we could bring back to our Nation and give our nations an opportunity to reconstruct, in this fragile and even grim climate, an opportunity to set the world on the path of light instead of the path of might, on the path to negotiation instead of the path of annihilation; to create for the world a new opportunity towards peace. We came in peace, and we departed as brothers and sisters in search of peace, with a framework which I am pleased to have a copy of here. Mr. Speaker, I include this framework for the Record. The material referred to is as follows: Report of the Meetings of the U.S. Congress and Russian Duma Vienna, Austria 30 April--1 May 1999 All sessions centered on the Balkan crisis. Agreement was found on the following points I. The Balkan crisis, including ethnic cleansing and terrorism, is one of the most serious challenges to international security since World War II. II. Both sides agree that this crisis creates serious threats to global and regional security and may undermine efforts against non-proliferation. III. This crisis increases the threat of further human and ecological catastrophes, as evidenced by the growing refugee problem, and creates obstacles to further development of constructive Russian-American relations. IV. The humanitarian crisis will not be solved by bombing. A diplomatic solution to the problem is preferable to the alternative of military escalation. Taking the above into account, the sides consider it necessary to implement the following emergency measures as soon as possible, preferably within the next week. Implementation of these emergency measures will create the climate necessary to settle the political questions. 1. We call on the interested parties to find practical measures for a parallel solution to three tasks, without regard to sequence: the stopping of NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, withdrawal of Serbian armed forces from Kosovo, and the cessation of the military activities of the KLA. This should be accomplished through a series of confidence building measures, which should include but should not be limited to: a. The release of all prisoners of war. b. The voluntary repatriation of all refugees in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and unhindered access to them by humanitarian aid organizations. NATO would be responsible for policing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's borders with Albania and Macedonia to ensure that weapons do not reenter the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with the returning refugees or at a later time. c. Agreement on the composition of the armed international forces which would administer Kosovo after the Serbian withdraw. The composition of the group should be decided by a consensus agreement of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council in consultation with Macedonia, Albania, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the recognized leadership of Kosovo. d. The above group would be supplemented by the monitoring activities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). e. The Russian Duma and U.S. Congress will use all possibilities at their disposal in order to successfully move ahead the process of resolving the situation in Yugoslavia on the basis of stopping the violence and atrocities. 2. We recognize the basic principles of the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which include: a. wide autonomy for Kosovo b. a multi-ethnic population c. treatment of all Yugoslavia peoples in accordance with international norms 3. We support efforts to provide international assistance to rebuild destroyed homes of refugees and other humanitarian assistance, as appropriate, to victims in Kosovo. 4. We, as members of the Duma and Congress, commit to active participation as follows: Issue a Joint U.S. Congress-Russian Duma report of our meetings in Vienna. Concrete suggestions for future action will be issued as soon as possible. Delegations will agree on timelines for accomplishment of above tasks. Delegations will brief their respective legislatures and governments on outcome of the Vienna meetings and agreed upon proposals. Delegations will prepare a joint resolution, based on their report, to be considered simultaneously in the Congress and Duma. Delegations agree to continue a working group dialogue between Congress and the Duma in agreed upon places. Delegations agree that Duma deputies will visit refugee camps and Members of Congress will visit the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Mr. Speaker, this agreement begins with stopping the bombing, a withdrawal of the Armed Forces from Kosovo, a cessation of military activities of the KLA, releasing all prisoners, returning all refugees, providing for their safekeeping with an international peacekeeping force, rebuilding their shattered homes, and helping to rebuild their shattered lives. This is such a great country with such a great heart, because we care about people all over this world. We want to bring peace to those who are suffering. Our delegation, Mr. Speaker, gave us a chance, at a moment when it looked like escalation was the only recourse, with the leadership of the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Curt Weldon), with the participation of our leader, the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Neil Abercrombie), we finally had the opportunity to begin anew to look at each other as brothers and sisters in search of peace, to come up with a framework which we would all hope would be the start of a new opportunity to look forward to perhaps a cease-fire, to a cessation of bombing, to restoring the refugees and rebuilding the war-ravaged area. Let us continue to pray for peace, and let us continue to act in consonance with our prayers. ____________________