Ben Cardin

We will participate within the OSCE on the monitoring, and we will make sure that we report accurately what happens in Russia.

It is so important to put faces on issues.

We will, in fact, have a global Magnitsky law so that we can take the--our experience from Russia and use it in other countries.

If Russia does not take action against the abusers, we are not going to give them the benefits of our country.

The commitments to basic human rights are not an internal matter for a country, but are legitimate interests of all the members of the OSCE.

I am going to be respectful of the Chairman's 5-minute clock, but I am going to be asking other questions for the record.

It does seem like Russia is investing an awful lot in territorial claims in the Arctic.

What are we doing to respond to Russia's militarization of the Arctic?

Let me say it is not safe to be in the political opposition these days in Russia.

To defend ourselves from Russia's behavior and aggression, it would be nice to know why they are doing what they are doing.

I totally agree with the points that you raised and the challenges we have in regards to our relationship with Russia.

It does not appear like we are getting the attention we would like to get on this issue.

I mean, India is a good example. India has been in the same tier for a long time.

And I just would hope that there is sensitivity to that from the leadership in the State Department, that this is a tool that can be used to advance a very important mission for a country.

Would you give us that information?

How about the others?

Just so I understand, were they foreign nationals that were prosecuted or Cuban nationals that were prosecuted.

Well, somehow in Cuba, we were able to look at some of the documents you made available to us. And there appeared to be a pretty clear indication that Cuba should remain on the tier 3 list, but yet it ended up on tier 2 watch, which seems…

Will there be transparency that the President issues a waiver and keeps a country on tier 3--tier 2 watch rather than tier 3 for an additional year or 2 beyond the time period spelled out in the statute, that there will be transparency for…

My point is we have seen very little evidence that they have changed their underlying attitude towards prosecution.

We want to protect the report from being politicized.

We do not want to see political considerations on the ranking and tiers decisions on the Trafficking in Persons Report.

The tool of the Trafficking in Persons Report is maintained as the gold standard

How can we be more effective in combating trafficking

We are all on the same side here.