Florida Senate - 2022                            (NP)    SR 1990
       
       
        
       By Senator Polsky
       
       
       
       
       
       29-03433-22                                           20221990__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution condemning the ruthless military assault
    3         on Ukraine, and on democracy itself, by Russian
    4         President Vladimir Putin and expressing unwavering
    5         support for the Ukrainian people in this extraordinary
    6         time.
    7  
    8         WHEREAS, Ukraine, which regained its independence in 1991
    9  after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is a unitary republic
   10  in Eastern Europe, the second largest country in Europe in terms
   11  of area and, with a population of 43.6 million, the eighth most
   12  populous, and
   13         WHEREAS, Ukraine has moved toward becoming a full-fledged
   14  democracy with an elected president and an independent
   15  parliament and membership in the United Nations and the Council
   16  of Europe, and
   17         WHEREAS, in March 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin,
   18  an authoritarian dictator of a Communist regime, personally
   19  directed the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by Russia and has
   20  continued to support and encourage Russian separatists inside
   21  Ukraine in an attempt to further divide the country, and
   22         WHEREAS, Ukraine is bordered by Russia on the east and
   23  northeast and also shares borders with Belarus to the north;
   24  Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; and Romania and
   25  Moldova to the south, and, in 2016, applied for the economic
   26  component of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the
   27  European Union (EU), which would strengthen the nation’s ties to
   28  the West and would modernize and develop Ukraine’s economy,
   29  governance, and rule of law to EU standards, and
   30         WHEREAS, Vladimir Putin has continued to undermine the
   31  efforts of Ukraine’s directly elected President Volodymyr
   32  Zelenskyy, who took office in May 2019 after winning more than
   33  73 percent of the popular vote, and
   34         WHEREAS, on February 22, 2022, Vladimir Putin ordered
   35  Russian military forces to enter two Ukrainian republics,
   36  Donetsk and Luhansk, on what he called a “peacekeeping mission,”
   37  officially recognizing both as sovereign states fully
   38  independent from the Ukrainian government, and
   39         WHEREAS, in the early hours of February 24, 2022, Vladimir
   40  Putin announced a “special military operation” to demilitarize
   41  Ukraine, launching an unprovoked and deadly attack and invading
   42  an independent nation, thereby threatening world peace, and
   43         WHEREAS, the United States of America is committed to the
   44  growth and spread of democracy worldwide and stands with the
   45  Ukrainian people suffering at the hands of Vladimir Putin, many
   46  of whom face grave harm or even death under the crush of his
   47  ruthless military assault, NOW, THEREFORE,
   48  
   49  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   50  
   51         That the ruthless military assault on Ukraine, and on
   52  democracy itself, by Russian President Vladimir Putin is
   53  condemned and that the Florida Senate expresses its unwavering
   54  support for the Ukrainian people in this extraordinary time.