I would like to join in welcoming our witnesses to the Committee – including Dr. Sletzinger, who used to work on our professional Committee staff for many years -- and thank them for their testimony today.

It has been almost two decades since Eastern Europe broke free from communist rule and Soviet domination.

It is easy for us to forget that, just under twenty years ago, the United States and its West European allies faced communist dictatorships and a “Warsaw Pact” military alliance in East Europe, and that the Soviet-controlled militaries of those East European countries stood poised to invade the West.

Today, it is a radically changed and radically better situation.

Today, most of those former adversaries are members of the European Union and of the NATO Alliance.

While we can rightly be proud of the democratic trends across Eastern Europe,
 
Belarus remains a dictatorship in which protest is squashed and political opponents are jailed or “disappeared”;

• the political future of Ukraine is unclear;
  
• and the highest officials of the Russian government appear intent on taking personal control of Russia’s wealth and controlling the political process to ensure their continued, increasingly autocratic rule.

A great deal of progress has been made in terms of the political and economic development of Eastern Europe since the revolutions of 1989 and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, but some countries in the region have faired better than others in developing free democracies and strong market-based economic systems. 

While Poland and other East European countries are moving forward economically, for instance, Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, and Albania, the second poorest, continue to struggle.

Corruption remains a significant problem across the region, but appears to be indeed a very serious matter in countries like Romania and Bulgaria --- and further to the East, in Russia.

And some countries in the region have become centers or transport routes for human trafficking, a problem of enormous and growing proportions.

As has been the case for at least two centuries, we cannot truly assess political and economic trends in Central and Eastern Europe without considering developments in Russia and Russia’s foreign policy.

When we look at the region with that in mind, our confidence in the future of positive political and economic trends in Central and Eastern Europe does not come as easily.

The top Russian leadership has taken significant steps toward an authoritative form of government, and, emboldened by it’s windfall energy profits, has begun to try to use its massive energy supplies to East, Central and West Europe as a tool of manipulation across the continent.

I would also note that several major issues in Central and Eastern Europe ---  such as our efforts to resolve the status of Kosovo and our plans to establish missile defense facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland --- all involve Russia.

In the case of Kosovo, Russia has been strongly opposing United Nations envoy’s plan to have an independent Kosovo under international supervision, and has threatened to veto any UN Resolution that would call for Kosovo’s independence.

Also, rather than withdraw its troops from Moldova – stationed there against the Moldovan government’s wishes for sixteen years – Russian President Putin would prefer to threaten the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe.

His objective in this is to compel the United States and NATO to halt the construction of the limited missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Looking at the broader issue of energy supplies for the countries of Europe, it seems clear that Russia is once again playing a negative role.

It is clear that the future energy security for the West and East European states, as defined by those in the Kremlin, means nothing more than a growing dependence on Russian oil and gas exports.

While taking vigorous steps to compel Western energy companies to sell or relinquish control over their investments in Russia and while preventing foreign ownership of Russian gas and oil pipelines, Russia’s state-owned and influenced energy companies are determined and persistent in their efforts to acquire control over energy supply infrastructure in Eastern and Western Europe.

Russia’s recent history of cutting off energy supplies to its neighbors, such as Ukraine and Belarus, clearly demonstrates what the future of Eastern Europe will be, if all of Europe does not find a way to work together successfully to prevent Russia’s growing energy dominance.

The future of democracy in Eastern Europe,

• the ability of the United States and its European allies to combat the spread of corruption throughout the region;
  
• the ability to solidify a united Europe that includes the democracies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet region;

 --- all of that depends  greatly on how the United States and its European allies address the Russian government’s current strategy to dominate Europe’s energy industries and supply infrastructure.

It all depends, as well, on whether we ensure that Russian foreign policy is not allowed to drive “wedges” between European states on issues like the future status of Kosovo, missile defense and the right of the democracies of Eastern Europe to build their future free from a sphere of influence by a large, neighboring state.

They have already suffered far too much from such spheres of influence in the past.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.