Benjamin Gilman: “the measure we are considering in the House today, H.R. 4118, the Russian-American Trust and Cooperation Act, speaks to…”

“the measure we are considering in the House today, H.R. 4118, the Russian-American Trust and Cooperation Act, speaks to the twin issues of Russian electronic espionage conducted against our United States Armed Forces, against our companies and our citizens, and the Russian government's financial support for the Communist regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba, support that is provided by means of the hundreds of millions of dollars of annual rent paid for the use of a site in Cuba to conduct such espionage against our Nation. Mr. Speaker, there are at least two fundamental questions that we need to address in this measure: first, why is the Russian government conducting such an expansive campaign of espionage against the United States at a time when we are supposed to be building a new relationship in this post-Cold War world? Second, how does the Russian government explain that they have the financial means to turn over to the Castro regime every year Russian oil and commodities estimated to be worth as much as $300 million that it could otherwise sell to raise its own revenues, while at the same time Russia is claiming to the United States Government and its other creditors that it cannot afford to pay its debts to them?”