By Office of Sen. John Kennedy MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) released the following statement following a phone call March 5 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “I just got off a conference call with President Zelenskyy. He has pilots, but he needs planes. His pilots aren’t trained to fly American planes, but European countries have planes that Ukrainian pilots can fly. “President Zelenskyy said these European countries are waiting on the okay from the United States to loan him the planes. I made sure that President Zelenskyy knew he had my support, but I think they are all waiting to hear from the Biden administration. We need to help Ukraine now with the planes it needs, for God’s sake. This will not involve U.S. planes, pilots or troops.” … [Read more...]

By Office of Sen. John Kennedy WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. John Kennedy has urged Ambassador-at-Large in the Office of International Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussain, and Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Ian Campbell, the current leading U.S. diplomat in Finland, to closely examine the Finnish government’s criminal prosecutions of Rev. Dr. Pohjola and Dr. Räsänen for expressing their religious beliefs. “The origins and circumstances of the criminal prosecution against Rev. Dr. Pohjola and Dr. Räsänen are clear: these Christians are on trial for their faith—which is, apparently, incompatible with Finnish law.  Even more concerning, Rev. Dr. Pohjola is a Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, and Dr. Päivi Räsänen is a Member of the Finnish Parliament. If these Finnish leaders are unable to engage in freedom of speech and the free exercise of their Christian faith, what ultimately protects ordinary people exercising their faith in Finland and elsewhere from similar abuses of power at the hands of intolerant governments?” Kennedy wrote in a letter to Hussain and Campbell. Kennedy noted Congress’s 1998 passage of the International Religious Freedom Act, which establishes an annual report on international … [Read more...]