Political Quotes

“Madam President, it starts out by saying that in the beginning of this war, which now has lasted almost 3 years, word came down from the leadership of Vladimir Putin's dictatorship in Russia to prisoners of war captured by the Russian soldiers, from Major General Igor Potapenko: ``Be cruel, don't pity them,'' the Ukrainian prisoners. We all know that war is hell. There is no question about it. We also are finding out that Russia has learned this. They thought that it would be a 1- or 2-day excursion and that they would be welcomed by pro-Russian Ukrainians as they rolled their tanks in. They found out very differently soon, and 3 years later, we have seen how the Ukrainians have fought and died for their own homeland. Also, once a combatant has been captured, there are very important international rules and regulations and a matter of international law-- which can be punished by life imprisonment, which can be punished by the death penalty--about treatment of prisoners of war. This is what we are learning about what Major General Igor Potapenko told the Russian prison officials that they could do: ``There would be no restrictions against violence'' against these prisoners of war. ``The body cameras mandatory elsewhere in Russia's . . . system would be gone. The guards would rotate . . . serving a month at a time in prisons before other teams took their place. Across the country, other units . . .…”