Berlin – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk of Ukraine, President Bärbel Bas of the German Bundestag and President Roberta Metsola of the European Parliament for a press conference at the G7 Speakers’ Summit.  Below are the Speaker’s remarks:

Speaker Pelosi.   Thank you very much.  Thank you, Madam President of the German Bundestag.  It's an honor to be here with you.  Thank you for arranging this, but also setting the stage in your opening remarks, which gave us an historic — as well as a perspective on the future, which challenged us in so many ways.  And I think that in our discussions we have a clear understanding that unity and solidarity, in regard to Putin’s horrible invasion of Ukraine, is one that will not stand.  It's an honor to be with you.

It's humbling to be with Speaker Stefanchuk.  After all, we will go home and bring this message to our Parliaments, our Congress.  He will go into battle, a country at war.  And as you said, Madam President earlier today, ‘We will persist until the guns are silent.’ 

And to that end, it requires substantial security support, humanitarian assistance, economic assistance and sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, that make sure that Russia feels the pain of this.

Couple of things, in terms of our conversation.  It is clear that this war must be won.  And we thank the people of Ukraine, for their commitment to democracy, for their own country, but the fight they're making is for democracy everywhere, A. 

B.  B, there must be – Russia must be held accountable, accountable for the atrocities they are committing against little children, using rape as a weapon of war, hunger as a tool of war, and the rest, but they must be held accountable.  And it was encouraging to hear how Ukraine is documenting the crimes against humanity that are taking place there now.

And Ukraine must be rebuilt.  In Congress, we've had in the House ‘seize and freeze.’  Seize the assets – the Russian assets, freeze the assets, and then use them to rebuild Ukraine.  It's going to take a lot of money.  Hopefully, it will be soon when the guns are silent, but we must be ready when they are.  

But the clear message from today that are so inspiring and so encouraging is what each of us can take back to our Parliaments – in my case, the Congress.  That there is solidarity in the G7, enthusiasm to make sure we do everything possible to be, as the Speaker asked us to be, swift, as swift in all of our commitment.  And to that end, I'm proud that in a bipartisan way, in the House and in the Senate, we've already voted $50 billion, over $50 billion in assistance in the ways I've mentioned earlier, to Ukraine, and that there is more to come.

And then central to at all is the civic education.  How we strengthen democracy, not just by fighting to preserve it, but strengthening it internally.  And for that I'm grateful, again, to you, Madam President, for tying these two together.  But thank you for this timely forum on Ukraine, so that we can make a difference, to congratulate you on the changes that are happening now, Mr. Speaker.  And again, we want that to continue until the guns are silent.  We're in it until victory is won by the Ukrainian people.  Glory to Ukraine.

Q.  To the Speaker of the House.  Ukraine has been asking for more military support, especially heavy armor.  Would you call on your own government and would you call on the German government to take a leadership role in supplying Ukraine with infantry fighting vehicles and make metal tanks?

Speaker Pelosi.   Thank you for your question.  And it affords me the opportunity to acknowledge leadership of our President, President Biden.  He is personally, on a day to day, hour to hour basis, very concerned about what happens in Ukraine.  And when we bring requests to him, he has basic knowledge of what is needed, how fast – swift is what Speaker Stefanchuk exhorts us to do.

I have – as I said, over $50 billion we have sent so far in economic, humanitarian and military assistance, in addition to sanctions, as much of the war continues.  And you can be assured that the Speaker has kept me up to date about what his needs are, currently. 

This week – in the next two weeks in September, we will be voting on more funding for the war that President Biden requests.  It will be received in a bipartisan, bicameral way.  How that money is spent is the list that Speaker gave me and hopefully, that it can be prioritized and swiftly honored.  

But again, we all know people of Ukraine are fighting to preserve not only their democracy, but ours.  It's a small price for us to pay, as I have said, for us as we go about our business and worried about the price of energy and the rest.  These people are risking their lives and we owe them every, again, monetary and economic, military and sanctions that we have initiative that they see, that they that they need.  So I think that we will have additional efforts that was just announced by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, we’ll have heavy artillery that we are sending.

Q.  With a trip to Armenia starting on Saturday, I wanted to ask if you can give any details on what will be happening on the trip and who will be accompanying you, for example, the American Congresswomen or any details that you can give.  Thank you.

Speaker Pelosi.   Madam President, with your permission, is there another question about the subject that we're right here about, and then I'm happy to answer that question.

Speaker Pelosi.   It was not known to me that my travel plans were in the public domain.  Oh, you overheard me.  Oh okay, all right.  Well, in any event, tomorrow we will be visiting Armenia, because we've had an ongoing invitation from the Armenians.

We have taken great pride in finally passing and making the law the recognition that what happened in Armenia was a genocide over 100 years ago.  We’ll be accompanied by two Members of Congress who are Armenian Americans: Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who worked so hard on this.  One of the Co-Chairs of the Armenian Caucus, Frank Pallone.  

Unfortunately, the maker of the motion to declare the Armenian Genocide such, Adam Schiff, cannot be with us.  He chairs the Intelligence Committee, and this is rather spontaneous when we saw that we could do this.

But it is, we are very blessed in our country, especially in California, to have a large Armenian American diaspora.  It's beyond diaspora now — population.  And this is a major human rights challenge, and we have finally accomplished it.  And we're proud of President Biden for his role in all of this.

So I won't be discussing the details of the visit.  You'll see that when we get there.  But it's – I’m stunned because when Members travel, we don't like to be a target.  So we don't like any advance – of coming except, at some point, something of this nature.  And so I hope that I have not endangered my colleagues by your question.  

In any case, [it] is all about human rights and respecting the dignity and worth of every person.  And what – Speaker Stefanchuk took us to new heights in terms of our intensity, about the immediacy of it all and the need, the need to act.  And Madam President, your opening statement was just such an inspiration.  Thank you so much.  And how wonderful that you're expediting Ukraine to move into the E.U.  Thank you for your leadership.

Berlin – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after holding a bilateral meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany at the Federal Chancellery and a bi

Berlin – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk of Ukraine, President Bärbel Bas of the German Bundestag and President Roberta Metsola of the Eur

Berlin – Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered a keynote address at Session I of the G7 Speakers’ Summit on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.  Below are the Speaker’s remarks:

Berlin – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement following engagements on the opening day of the 2022 G7 Speakers’ Summit: