Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons
This week, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, participated in congressional delegations to Germany, Poland, and Lithuania.
“I have just returned late yesterday from a weeklong trip to Europe. I was part of a large bipartisan delegation to the Munich Security Conference and then travelled onward to Poland and Lithuania,” said Senator Coons on a press call this morning. “The overall message I bring back from these trips and meetings is first, that NATO is stronger than it has ever been; that President Biden and his team have done an outstanding job of mobilizing the West to be prepared for this moment of aggression by Vladimir Putin. The outrage you are hearing from our partners and allies and their determination to impose swift and strong sanctions to make Russia, and in particular Putin and the circle of oligarchs who support him, pay the price for the loss of life that we are seeing unfold today in Kyiv and across Ukraine, is the result of determination.”
In Germany, Senator Coons participated in the Munich Security Conference and addressed arms control issues with Nobel Laureate Beatrice Fihn and Chatham House Deputy Director Renata Dwan. He also spoke about the Indo-Pacific on a panel with Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar, EU High Commission Borrell, and Estonian Foreign Minister Liimets. He also addressed challenges in the Red Sea region in a closed panel with leaders from Ethiopia, Yemen, and the UN. He met with German Foreign Minister Baerbock, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis, Finnish President Niinisto, UN Secretary General Guterres, Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and Mayor Klitschko of Kyiv, among others.
In Poland, he met with soldiers and airmen from the U.S. and our NATO allies at Lask Airbase, met with Polish President Duda, Minister of National Defense Blaszczak, Senator Grodzki, and met with journalists at TVN to affirm the value of a free press. He also visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum, and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
In Lithuania, he met with Prime Minister Simonyte, Foreign Minister Landsbergis, dined with Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, the first head of Lithuania’s parliament, and heard moving stories about confronting the occupation of the Soviet Union.