Whereas the illegal Russian military occupation of the Crimea region of Ukraine is an affront to international norms, an unprovoked aggression, and a threat to regional stability; Whereas Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has a history of regional aggression, including the Russian invasion of the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions of the Georgia in 2008 and intervention in favor of the breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova in 1991–1992; Whereas Article II of the Charter of the United Nations states that all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state ; Whereas, in 1994, the United States, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine signed the Budapest Memorandum, in which all parties pledged to respect and uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in exchange for Ukraine voluntarily giving up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, which it inherited following the collapse of the Soviet Union; Whereas a failure of the United States to uphold the terms of the Budapest Memorandum would have significant consequences for the credibility of United States guarantees related to nuclear nonproliferation and undermine America’s commitment to the principle of the inviolability of national borders; Whereas an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was signed in 2014, a move which will strengthen ties with Europe and which President Poroshenko described as Ukraine’s most important day since it secured its independence in 1991; Whereas, on February 28, 2014, Russian forces in unmarked uniforms occupied strategic civil and military infrastructure in Crimea and provided support to pro-Russian militias and activists as part of a coordinated strategy to seize control of Crimea and create the illusion of an organic, local rebellion against oppressive Ukrainian authorities