Editor,

I’m writing to you in regards to the article “Rep. Rick Larsen backs Whidbey Navy base, touts transportation” published in The Record, Jan. 20.

The article states: “Toward the end of the meeting, the questions veered toward more fringe topics for the congressman. One man, who identified himself as a Ukrainian, asked where the indignation was over alleged human rights violations perpetrated by the new government in the now Russian-occupied area of Crimea. After visiting Ukraine a few weeks ago, Larsen said he supported President Barack Obama’s decision to support the new government.

‘I don’t have any indignation with the Ukrainian government,’ Larsen said.”

Here’s what I actually asked: “Seventeen people died in France recently, so it created news for the next few weeks. I’m originally from Eastern Ukraine. Scores of people there die every day. None of it is being reported or very little of it is being reported here. I have family who have been displaced. I have family who [are] hiding in basements because of shelling by the Ukrainian military. … All I hear is a lot of Russia bashing on the news, but no criticism of the Ukrainian government and the way it’s cracking down on the eastern part of the country. Civilian targets are being bombed every day. Where’s our indignation at human rights violations by the Ukrainian regime?”

Rick Larsen apparently didn’t have any indignation. Well, it’s his conscience. However, I was definitely not referring to Crimea. I was referring to the civil war going on in Eastern Ukraine, which only by official estimates has killed over 5,000 people, displaced hundreds of thousands, and destroyed much of the infrastructure in one of the most urbanized areas of the country. It’s probably not known to most of his constituents here, but Rick Larsen’s support for the regime in Kiev, which he actually visited in December, does not make it a fringe topic for him and, just like earlier Ukraine visits by such politicians like Victoria Nuland, Senator John McCain, CIA Director John Brennan, and Vice President Joe Biden, only further emboldens the new people in power in Ukraine, essentially giving them a carte blanche in their military campaign in the east, something that would have been unfathomable in our dealing with countries like Yugoslavia, Libya, or Syria. Despite the fact that our mainstream media coverage of this conflict has been extremely selective and biased, I’m sure Rick Larsen is very well familiar with what I was talking about.

VLADIMIR NIKULIN

Clinton