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U.S.–Russia Relations Hearing Committee on Foreign S. HRG. 115–822 U.S.–RUSSIA RELATIONS HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION AUGUST 21, 2018 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 40–552 PDF WASHINGTON : 2020 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS BOB CORKER, Tennessee, Chairman JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey MARCO RUBIO, Florida BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JEFF FLAKE, Arizona CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware CORY GARDNER, Colorado TOM UDALL, New Mexico TODD YOUNG, Indiana CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming TIM KAINE, Virginia JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts ROB PORTMAN, Ohio JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon RAND PAUL, Kentucky CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey TODD WOMACK, Staff Director JESSICA LEWIS, Democratic Staff Director JOHN DUTTON, Chief Clerk (II) CONTENTS Page Corker, Hon. Bob, U.S. Senator From Tennessee ................................................. 1 Menendez, Hon. Robert, U.S. Senator From New Jersey .................................... 2 Mitchell, Hon. A. Wess, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eur- asian Affairs, United States Department of State, Washington, DC .............. 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7 Billingslea, Hon. Marshall, Assistant Secretary, Terrorist Financing, United States Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC ...................................... 9 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL FOR THE RECORD Responses of Assistant Secretary A. Wess Mitchell to Questions Submitted by Senator Robert Menendez .............................................................................. 44 Responses of Assistant Secretary A. Wess Mitchell to Questions Submitted by Senator Benjamin L. Cardin .......................................................................... 46 Responses of Assistant Secretary A. Wess Mitchell to Questions Submitted by Senator Rob Portman ..................................................................................... 47 Responses of Assistant Secretary A. Wess Mitchell to Questions Submitted by Senator Cory Booker ....................................................................................... 49 Report to Congress Pursuant to Section 243 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 Regarding Interagency Efforts in the United States To Combat Illicit Finance Relating to the Russian Federation ............................................................................................................. 50 Trump Administration Actions To Push Back Against Russia ............................ 60 NATO Summit Deliverables ................................................................................... 62 (III) U.S.–RUSSIA RELATIONS TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in room SD–419, Senate Office Building, Hon. Bob Corker, chairman of the committee, presiding. Present: Senators Corker [presiding], Risch, Rubio, Flake, Gard- ner, Young, Isakson, Portman, Paul, Menendez, Cardin, Shaheen, Murphy, Kaine, Markey, Merkley, and Booker. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BOB CORKER, U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE The CHAIRMAN. The Foreign Relations Committee will come to order. We want to thank our witnesses for being here today for the second in a series of hearings on Russia. This committee is at- tempting to get a clearer sense of the administration’s overall pos- ture on Russia. And again, we thank you both for being here. We have outstanding witnesses today. We would like to understand what was agreed to when the lead- ers of our two countries sat down in Helsinki, where there were discussions regarding current or future arms control agreements, what other promises or assurances were made. To date, we have received no real readout, even in a classified setting, of this meeting. We would like to understand the adminis- tration’s assessment of the threat posed by Russia to us, to our al- lies, and to other countries and institutions around the world. Finally, we need a better understanding of how Russia sanctions this committee wrote last year, and the Senate passed by a vote of 98 to 2, despite strong objections from the White House, are being implemented. Russia has annexed Crimea, occupied parts of Georgia, interfered with elections, including our own, violated the IMF treaty, remains in violation, used chemical weapons to poison individuals in the United Kingdom, and even purportedly hacked U.S. utilities. These offenses are bad enough, but they leave us wondering what is next. What does the administration expect that they will next do? The past teaches us that even worse things may lay just over the horizon if we fail to push back now, and make clear to President Putin that our nation is united from the very top to the bottom in standing against his destabilizing behavior, both in pol- icy and in public posture. (1) 2 It is my hope that today you will reassure the members of this committee that our Executive branch is doing all in its power to convince the Russians not to continue testing our resolve. We thank you both again for your service to our country, for being here today before this committee, and we look forward to your testi- mony. And with that, I will turn to our distinguished Ranking Member, my friend, Bob Menendez. STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ, U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your opening statement. I join you in your words and your con- cerns. And for convening this hearing, which I hope is part of a se- ries of hearings on U.S. policy towards the Russian Federation. I hope we can get clarity into our policy and effectively pursue over- sight and legislation. More than a month after President Trump’s Helsinki meeting with President Putin we remain in the dark about what the two leaders discussed. We continue to hear more information, accurate or not, from the Russian government than from our own. It is not only embarrassing, but I believe this lack of trans- parency has implications for our national security. I am not con- vinced that those who need to know in our own Executive branch have a full understanding of what happened. After more than 3 hours with Secretary Pompeo a few weeks ago, this committee has little more insight than we did before the hearing. Since the administration has failed to answer congressional re- quests or provide any information, I am today formally requesting that the department provide all classified and unclassified cable traffic related to the Helsinki meeting, memorandums, and policy directives. I will not spend time today running through Russia’s ongoing transgressions. I think President Trump’s cabinet, Secretary Mattis, Director Coats, Secretary Nielson, and others, have warned that Russia continues to undermine our democracy. Russia uses chemical weapons to attack its opponents abroad. It invades its neighbors and illegally annexes territory. Assad’s murderous regime and Iranian proxy fighters inching closer to Israel rely on the Kremlin. And today, we learn from Microsoft that Russian hackers continue their attempts to attack the United States Senate and venerable American think tanks and NGOs. I have been disappointed by the cause by some on the other side of the aisle to ignore these threats and seek accommodation with Moscow. Sending mixed signals to the Kremlin and its allies only serves to undermine our pressure track and sanctions regime. I do not currently see the value in meeting with sanctioned members of the Russian Duma. They are sanctioned because of their support for the illegal annexation of Crimea, and they should remain on our sanctions list until Crimea is returned to Ukraine. I myself am sanctioned by the Russian government for my au- thorship of the Ukraine Freedom Support Act. And I would be 3 happy to meet with the Duma when each of the goals of that law are accomplished. Till then, they can stay in Moscow. I would like to use this hearing to look forward. The administra- tion often points to its record while ignoring the President’s dam- aging rhetoric on Russia policy. With that said, I was pleased that Secretary Pompeo committed to work with us on new sanctions, as outlined in my bill, with Senator Graham, and many others on this committee. Today I would like to hear in detail specific provisions of the De- fending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2018 that you would commit to working towards. I want your views on how these measures could impact the Kremlin’s decision-making calculus, and how the sanctions the bill imposes would impact the intended targets. The bill recognizes that our efforts to date have been insufficient. It includes tough measures, which we recognize have implications for U.S. companies and our allies. However, do we really believe it is acceptable or in our national interest for U.S. companies or those of our allies to be doing business in Russia, particularly supporting the very sectors that have aided and abet Kremlin aggression and interference? It is utterly ridiculous that President Trump would publically champion a U.S. Russia business council rather
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