Whereas, in late February 2014, the Russian Federation invaded and illegally occupied Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, in full contravention of the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, which condemn the threat or use of force as means of altering international borders; Whereas the Russian Federation’s attempted illegal annexation of Crimea is also a direct violation of its pledges as a signatory to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and existing borders and to refrain from the threat or use of force against Ukraine; Whereas the inclusion of the United States and the United Kingdom as signatories to the Budapest Memorandum was essential in order to provide Ukraine the security assurances needed to give up its nuclear arsenal; Whereas, on November 25, 2018, military forces of the Russian Federation attacked and seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels and their crews as they attempted to transit the Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation still has not released the Ukrainian crew members or returned the Ukrainian ships that were seized illegally; Whereas European Commissioner Julian King stated that the Government of the Russian Federation launched a disinformation campaign over a year ago designed to paint Ukraine and NATO as provocateurs in the Kerch Strait; Whereas, as part of the Russian Federation disinformation campaign, Russian state media outlets spread demonstrable falsehoods, including claims that Ukraine was dredging the Kerch Strait seabed to facilitate the stationing of a NATO fleet, that Ukraine had intentionally infected the sea with cholera, and that Ukrainian and British clandestine services were conspiring to destroy the Kerch Strait bridge with a nuclear weapon