; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has asserted the purported right and duty to protect ethnic Russians, Russian speakers, and Russian citizens wherever they may live, and whether or not they seek such protection ; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has actively provided Russian passports and Russian citizenship to people living in nearby countries and particularly to those living in areas that have been the sites of tension or war in the post-Soviet space: Abkhazia, Crimea, Transnistria, and the Tskhinvali Region (South Ossetia); Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has exploited alleged violations of the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers to justify wars of aggression against Georgia and Ukraine; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has employed military intimidation, cyber-attacks, outright invasion, occupation, and illegal annexation to hold hostage the aspirations of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in particular; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has employed tools of cyber warfare, hybrid warfare, and disinformation in its aggression in Ukraine and Georgia, and in other sovereign nations, in order to exert influence while obfuscating the reality of these conflicts; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has exploited alleged violations of the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers to exert pressure on the governments of many of the states achieving independence since the fall of the Soviet Union; Whereas the stability and prosperity that have emerged in Europe since the end of the Cold War contribute to the security and prosperity of the United States; Whereas the United States has always been the well-wisher and supporter of European nations demanding freedom and the right to choose their own futures