The Washington Post - USA (2022-03-02)

A22 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 , 2022

russia invades ukraine

BY MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.)
never thought that she would
have the life she has now.
Growing up in Ukraine when it
was a Soviet republic, she did not
imagine immigrating to the Unit-
ed States at the age of 21 after
falling in love with an American
she met on a train while living in
Kyiv. Once in Noblesville, Ind.,
Spartz said she prioritized raising
her two daughters before becom-
ing an accountant and then em-
bracing public service, first as a
state senator and then getting
elected to Congress in 2020.
It never crossed her mind that
she would serve in Congress at a
time when her native country was
being invaded by Russia.
“I never wanted to think that I
would have to deal with a crisis
like that. I never, you know,
thought that I’d be in the place
where I am. Sometimes it makes
me wonder if God has a reason for
that,” Spartz said in an interview.
“I want to be an asset for our
country, to be helpful to deal with
this situation. I have that experi-
ence.”
As the first Ukrainian-born im-
migrant to serve in the U.S. Con-
gress, the freshman lawmaker has
taken a leading role for Republi-
cans in voicing both the horror of
what the world is witnessing dur-
ing the Russian invasion and ar-
guing for what the United States
should do in response. On Tues-
day night, she was part of the
group of lawmakers who escorted
President Biden into the House
chamber for a State of the Union
address that focused heavily on
the conflict happening in her na-
tive country.
Spartz, 43, has joined her Re-
publican colleagues in harshly
criticizing Biden for his handling
of the Ukrainian crisis, including
for not imposing sanctions on
Russia before the invasion — a

move the White House has said

would not have deterred Russian

President Vladimir Putin and

may have caused him to invade

earlier.

“So I think we have an obliga-

tion and duty to save this world,

save Ukrainian people to survive

and this president needs to get his

act together and exercise some

leadership. What is happening

under his watch is atrocity. What

he’s doing to this country and the

world is unforgivable,” she said at

a House Republican news confer-

ence Tuesday. “But I think we will

get together as Republican and

Democrat but he must act deci-

sively fast or blood of many Ukrai-

nians will be on his hand too.”

The White House has pushed

back against these criticisms, not-

ing that Biden worked with Euro-

pean allies to hit Moscow, as well

as Putin personally, with harsh

sanctions in an attempt to cripple

Russia’s economy.

And while Spartz has been

heavily critical of Biden, she has

been less so of former president

Donald Trump, who was im-

peached in 2019 but later acquit-

ted by the Senate for withholding

military aid and a White House

visit for Ukrainian President Vo-

lodymyr Zelensky as he pushed

for an investigation into the activ-

ities of Hunter Biden, President

Biden’s son, in Ukraine.

She was reluctant in an inter-

view to criticize Trump for his

recent comments about how Pu-

tin has handled his decision to

invade Ukraine saying it was

“genius,” “pretty savvy” and “pret-

ty smart” because “he’s taking

over a country for $2 worth of

sanctions.”

Spartz said she doesn’t “always

like how he expresses his lan-

guage,” but she thinks Trump is

correct on the premise that Putin

is clever, often fooling the United

States and the rest of the world to

react rather than counter him on

the front end.

“We’re always not just two

steps behind, but 10 steps be-

hind,” she said. “He really utilizes

our weaknesses to his ambitions

and advantages.”

Spartz was elected in 2020 run-

ning on a small-government plat-

form and arguing that Democrats

were becoming the party of so-

cialism. She and eight other GOP

freshmen established the “Free-

dom Force” to counter the liberal

“Squad.” Besides Spartz, the

group also includes three other

Republicans whose families fled

communist Cuba, including Reps.

Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Car-

los A. G imenez (R-Fla.) and Nicole

Malliotakis (R-N.Y.).

She had spent her fist term in

Congress mostly focusing on do-

mestic issues until the crisis

broke out in Ukraine.

Spartz said she has been proac-

tive in pitching herself as a help-

ful asset to the administration. In

recent weeks, she reminded Sec-

retary of State Antony Blinken

and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley in

separate phone calls of how her

unique experience growing up

Ukraine, her fluency in both Rus-

sian and Ukrainian and her un-

derstanding of how politicians

work abroad could be of help to

them.

She said she also made a direct

appeal to White House Chief of

Staff Ron Klain, whose family

hails from her district. Her re-

quest to speak with Klain has

gone unanswered and others in

the administration haven’t fol-

lowed up on her calls.

“That’s all you can do,” she said

of her calls.

Spartz has focused most of her

efforts on trying to convey the

seriousness of the attack on

Ukraine to her House Republican

colleagues and has spoken twice

during recent weekly conference

meetings, including Tuesday.

She has joined some of her GOP

colleagues in calling for the Unit-

ed States and its allies to find

ways to cut off their reliance on

Russian oil and gas supplies while

boosting oil and gas drilling in the

United States.

During a meeting with the

Congressional Ukrainian Caucus

on Monday, Ukraine’s ambassa-

dor to the United States, Oksana

Markarova, pleaded with mem-

bers for the United States to stop

receiving oil imports from Russia.

“She pretty much said, you

know, ‘every drop of oil and gas is

full of Ukrainian blood and you’re

not even talking about doing any-

thing. You’re still buying Russian

energy,’ ” Spartz recalled.

Another issue Congress will

have to address is a potential

refugee crisis as more Ukrainians

flee their country. Spartz has

joined a growing list of House

Republicans who have called for

applying relaxed immigration

rules to Ukrainian refugees so

they can come to the United

States.

Spartz said her focus on the

invasion and the active role she is

playing in Congress has taken her

away from checking in with fam-

ily and friends who remain

abroad.

“I’ve talked to some people,

some acquaintances, but I didn’t

really even have much time to call

people. It’s hard to even call peo-

ple because people are sitting

underground. A lot of their

phones now the batteries are

dead,” she said. “I’ve been so busy

dealing with all of this here, so

ultimately, I cannot do much to

help them there.”

She said the personal toll on

her is “very difficult,” especially as

she sees herself in the faces of

mothers trying to protect their

young children from the cruel

realities of war.

“It’s a devastating when you see

that. It doesn’t matter which

country it is, you know, it’s sad.

Such a loss of life about nothing.

You have one person holding the

whole world hostage,” she said.

But she said she believes in the

resilience of the Ukrainian people

despite the grave danger they

face.

“I hope things will get better;

you have to always stay optimis-

tic. But as I said, it’s a David-ver-

sus-Goliath fight,” she said. “In

the long run, Ukrainians are not

going to surrender. Ukrainians

are just not going to submit. Rus-

sia is going to lose at the end, but

it will cost a lot of lives.”

Spartz leads Republicans in criticizing Biden’s response

BILL O'LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), a Ukraine native, criticized President Biden for not imposing sanctions

on Russia sooner, though the White House said doing so would not have prevented the invasion.

Born in Ukraine,

congresswoman is trying

to help from afar

“I think we have an

obligation and duty to

save this world, save

Ukrainian people to

survive and this

president needs to get

his act together and

exercise some

leadership.”

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who

came to the United States from

Ukraine when she was 21

Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio)

Thursday, March 3 at 10:00 a.m.

The ranking Republican on the House

Intelligence Committee discusses how

Congress should respond to Russia’s

invasion of Ukraine.

To register to watch, visit:

wapo.st/turnermarch2022 or scan

code using a smartphone camera:

Listen wherever podcasts are available.

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