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Connolly, Wilson Reintroduce Crimea Annexation Non-Recognition Act

Washington, January 26, 2023
 Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), President Emeritus of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), also a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, reintroduced the Crimea Annexation Non-recognition Act. This bipartisan legislation would prohibit any federal agency from taking any action or extending any assistance that recognizes or implies recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, its airspace, or its territorial waters. 

 

“The United States must not acquiesce to Russia’s illegal and forcible annexation and occupation,” Congressman Connolly said. “We must repeat time and again, for however long it takes, that we will never recognize Russia’s forcible and illegal annexation of Crimea. I want to thank my friend Joe Wilson for his partnership on this issue, even as I sincerely hope this is the last time we need to introduce this bill. It is long past time for it to become law.”

 

“In 2014, the war criminal Putin took his first major step of aggression against the sovereign nation of Ukraine when he violated international law by invading and illegally annexing Crimea,” said Congressman Wilson. “The U.S. government must be clear that any failure to acknowledge the occupation of Crimea as illegal will not be tolerated. I thank Congressman Connolly, the President Emeritus of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, for his longtime leadership on this critical issue.”

 

National Defense Authorization Acts and appropriations bills from FY 2016-2023 include similar language to this bill and prohibit those funds from being used on any action that recognizes Russian sovereignty over Crimea. This legislation, which passed the House in the 116th Congress (417-1), would codify that prohibition until Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea is fully restored. 

 

Text of the Crimea annexation Non-recognition Act is available here.
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