Meeks Pushes Senate to Approve Sanctions for Possible Russia-Crimea Tunnel

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said late Sept. 18 that he's working to build Senate support for his bill that would sanction foreign persons who contribute to the construction of a tunnel from Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

Meeks said he is talking with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., and other senators to try to advance his legislation through the upper chamber. “We’re going to work it very hard to get it through the Senate,” Meeks told Export Compliance Daily. “I think we’ll get some support.”

Meeks and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., introduced the No Russian Tunnel to Crimea Act in March (see 2403180056), and the House approved it by voice vote Sept. 9 (see 2409100024). During floor debate on the measure, Meeks cited recent reports that Russian officials have met with leaders of major Chinese state-owned construction firms to discuss building such a tunnel.

Meeks said that because a key bridge that connects Russia and Crimea is vulnerable to attack by Ukrainian forces, a tunnel would “further entrench” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s control over Crimea, which Russia invaded in 2014, and would bolster Putin’s war effort against Ukraine.