about the murder of boris nemtsov. his remarks on the senate floor are just over 10 minutes. >> the senator from arizona. senator mccain: i want to thank him for his long-standing efforts in eliminating government mismanagement. if we are going to convince the american people that we have to make significant sacrifices, we have to start with an efficient government that does not waste taxpayer dollars. so i think my friend from indiana. i ask for consent to address morning business. lastly, i introduced a resolution condemning the murder of my friend boris nemtsov. the resolution calls upon the russian federation to support an investigation into his murder. and take immediate steps and its oppression of free speech and justice. it urges obama to continue to sanction human rights violations and increase support to like-minded activists in russia. i was devastated to learn of boris nemtsov's murder last month. my thoughts are made with his family in russia. in his death, the struggle for spree -- free speech in russia has suffered another blow. boris nemtsov was one of russia's earlie

a resolution condemning the murder of my friend and a true russian patriot boris nemtsov. the resolution calls upon the russian federation to support an investigation into his murder. and take immediate steps to end oppression of free speech and justice. it urges president obama to continue to sanction human rights violators and increase support to like-minded activists in russia. i was devastated to learn of boris' murder last month. my thoughts are with his family in russia. in his death, the struggle for free speech and human rights in russia has suffered another blow. when the soviet union collapsed boris nemtsov was one of russia's earliest political reformers, a champion of liberalization and democracy. his leadership of russia's laboratory of reform brought him to moscow, where he served as deputy prime minister and was once a favorite to the russian presidency. then russia took a dark turn when vladimir putin entered the kremlin, boris nemtsov was one -- were sealed in -- brioris yeltsin was one of the first to warn of the vladimir putin dictatorship. the grip on power

friends of boris nemtsov. the murder outside the kremlin fears -- seems to be an attempt to silence the critics of russia. nemtsov salt a better vision for his people, and we must remain committed to a democratic russia and peace with itself and its neighbors. he was especially critical of putin's progression in ukraine, where for over a year now russia has continued its occupation of crimea and the destabilization of the country's we made a commitment in 1994 to defend ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. which has been under a near constant assault from russia for more than a year. more recently, we lured ukraine west by supporting their desire for more interaction with europe. now with ukraine's future in the balance, the refusal of the administration to put more pressure on russia is a blight on u.s. policy in a 70 year defense. the conflict in eastern ukraine was started by a russian act mercenary, has no directly involved thousands personals which has resulted in over 6000 deaths and generated 1.5 million refugees in internally displaced persons. for up to two weeks af

magazine as called empire of fear. a dramatic picture of where boris nemtsov was goingunned down, with the kremlin in the background. they say this was no accident, it was planned by whoever killed him. rumors popping up everywhere but the russuaian spokesperson saying he is fine. what is going on? guest: i think he is playing games. i think he needs a distraction from the bad things that are happening in russia like the boris nemtsov's assassination. the ruble, the russian currency is collapsing. oil prices are hurting their budget enormously. you have the russian economy investment leaving. you have huge international criticism over what he has done in ukraine, and you also have crippling sanctions even from some of their partners like germany, france, on a lot of economic issues that are hurting russia. my guess is putin is saying let them talk about my absence of the do not talk about the others. he is a healthy guy, i met him once, he knows his issues. i do not think he is a friend of the united states, or someone we should trust, but at the same time i do nothing there is anything wr

the murder of rushing opposition leader boris nemtsov. now, today's foreign relations committee hearing which looks at the authorization request for the use of force against the militant group isis, committee members talked about nuclear talks with iran. protesters from the group "code pink" attended this three-hour hearing. bob corker chairs the committee. >> welcome to our distinguished witnesses today. thank you for taking the time to be here. this is an important topic. we know that each of you have been traveling extensively, and was again want to thank you for being with us once again today. i think everybody on this committee cares first and foremost that we have a policy a strategy to deal with isis that is in relation to our national interests. and that is paramount to what most people in america care about, and certainly everyone in this committee. secondarily to that, from my perspective, is the authorization process itself. and yet we find ourselves in an interesting place. the president, which i appreciate, has sent to us an authorization for the use of military for

open hearing. with regard to the brutal murder of boris nemtsov, i think you know before this we had met our annual statutory requirement to provide more names under the legislation, but that was before this event. so as we look at our list at the end of this year, we will see what we can learn about who the perpetrators are. we have made absolutely clear publicly and privately to the russian federation that the international community will expect an investigation that meets international standards and that finds not only the shooter but the orderer of the murder. ms. ros-lehtinen: not headed by putin. i know my time is expiring, but if we were to add -- aggressively add more names to that list of human rights violators, i think that we would see a change and russia knows we are not serious about implementing that legislation. i would love to get the answers to my questions in writing. thank you. we go to brad sherman of california. mr. sherman: ambassador, one thing i noticed about your opening statement was your lavish praise for the ukrainian parliament passing so much substantive

is clear that we need to take strong action against russia. the tragic assassination of boris nemtsov points out how extreme the putin regime has gotten. what we can do, madam secretary and i would urge you to look at this. he exposed individual gross appropriations of russian rights. let us not forget nadia --who was taken from ukraine i russia. there is continued efforts and the russian violations of the agreements including the cease-fire, i'm pleased to see you are looking at additional sanctions. understand that it will take u.s. leadership. if we wait for europe to act, it will not be effective. we have to be out there with our european partners, but it will require u.s. leadership. i want to change years, if i might. we have had a lot of questioning on the defensive issues. my assessment from visiting key of was that what happens in the protests of their, it was as much about basic rights and political rights. we have to make sure that they have been effective government with the institutions to protect the rights of all of the citizens to express their views and to be

me start with russia, since that is where you concluded. the murder of boris nemtsov, do you think that's a turning point? will we see a different environment within russia? i think one of nemtsov's most poignant remarks literally days before his murder, was that he felt that there needed to be a midon in russia an awakening in russia, which in some ways i think is the most powerful threat to vladimir putin than to anything. did you see these unbelievable images from moscow? literally steps from the kremlin? did you see this as potentially a turning point for russia? >> it's potentially. but, again, given the level of control and repression that exists there, we have had these before. being a vocal opponent of putin is not a safe position to be in, as nemtsov, you name them, the very long, growing list of enemies of the russian president who have been silenced. it would be nice to think that we would get a change. honestly, i'm just not that optimistic about it. >> you had some conversation as recently as yesterday on bbc 1 radio talking about the level of defense spending. very co

and russian patriot and friend to many of us, bories them so -- boris nemtsov. the outpouring of concern demonstrates bipartisanship respect for those in russia and across the region working for reform clean government, justice and dignity. today ukraine is central to our 25-year effort for a europe whole, free, and at peace. with your permission, i'd like to focus on three areas in particular today, first on the hard work that ukraine is doing with u.s. and international support to build a more democratic independent and european country. second, i'll address both the opportunity that russia has to implement the february and september minsk agreements as well as the further costs the united states and our european allies will have to impose if minsk is further violated and focus on three other threats to european security we are working on, energy vulnerability, corruption and propaganda noted by the chairman that the ukraine conflict brings in high release and all we're doing on them. first, a quick reminder of why we are here. 14 months ago the kiev and towns across ukraine ac

begin this hearing by expressing my condolences to the family and friends of boris nemtsov. he sought a better future for his people and we must remain committed to his vision for himself and his neighbors. russia has continued their occupation of crimea, and the destabilization of the country's eastern reasons -- we just pray made a commitment in 1994 to defend ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. more recently we lured ukraine west i supporting their desire for more interaction with europe. the refusal of the administration to put more pressure on russia is a blight on u.s. policy in a 70 year defense. this now directly involves over 1.6 5 million refugees. the russian backed rebels continued their offensive activities occupying a strategic railway hub. putin has no intention of honoring the cease-fire. while the violence has decided that subsided -- violence has subsided, in addition to the ambiguous constitutional electoral additions required of ukraine to maintain its borders the sentence -- second agreement is burdened by the first agreement as it stands. administratio

prominent and popular opposition leader, boris nement off -- nemtsov. not only was he a threat to putin, he was fearless. he exposed the truth of putin's rule corrupt practice fraudent elections he held in 2011 2012 that allowed him to return to the presidency. the former prime minister stated there was only one explanation for the murder, he was shot for telling the truth. the events over the past year have made our path clear forward, we must convince the administration to change the u.s. policy towards russia. putin's aggression in ukraine in violation of the most recrept cease-fires and leak to the assassination are directing people's attention away to the corruption and authoritarianism to an external threat. the united states must work to restore the country's territorial integrity and ensure russian military forces are removed from sovereign nations. we must convince the president that putin's continuation of the war in ukraine is continuation of his desperate attempt to direct to an external threat. i also call on russia to release the ukrainian air force pilot who remains a pri