[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 223 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 223

                  Condemning the violence in Chechnya.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 8, 1999

   Mr. Helms (for himself, Mr. Biden, Mr. Wellstone, and Mr. Lugar) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                  Condemning the violence in Chechnya.

Whereas, since September 1999, the Russian Federation has conducted a military 
        operation against Chechnya that has resulted in the deaths of thousands 
        of innocent civilians and the displacement of more than 200,000 people;
Whereas the Russian armed forces is launching repeated bombing attacks on the 
        capital city of Grozny;
Whereas the recent conflict in Chechnya represents a continuation of the use of 
        military force by Russia in 1994-1996, which caused the deaths of 
        approximately 100,000 citizens of Russia;
Whereas neither the use of force in 1994-1996, nor the current use of force in 
        Chechnya enhances the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the status 
        of Chechnya;
Whereas the United States condemns terrorism in all forms, including the bombing 
        attacks of apartment buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk in the summer of 
        1999;
Whereas the appropriate manner to combat terrorist attacks is not through the 
        use of indiscriminate force against civilians;
Whereas on November 4, 1999, Elena Bonner, Chairman of the Andrei Sakharov 
        Foundation, testified before the Committee of Foreign Relations of the 
        Senate that ``carpet bombing and shelling of cities, villages, and 
        refugee convoys attempting to escape the war zone constitute a grave 
        violation of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of 
        Civilian Persons in Time of War and the Additional Protocols and 
        demonstrate the Russian government's complete disregard for these 
        extremely important international agreements'';
Whereas the United States believes that the recent targeting of ethnic 
        minorities by local Russian officials, including blanket detentions and 
        expulsions, calls into question the commitment of the Government of 
        Russia to pluralism in the process of democratic reform in that country;
Whereas the Government of Russia has limited media access to and coverage of the 
        conflict in Chechnya to preserve Russian popular support for the 
        military operation;
Whereas the Government of Russia has openly violated its commitments under the 
        Flank Document to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe with 
        its deployments of military equipment in and around Chechnya; and
Whereas the conduct of the Russian armed forces in Chechnya threatens to 
        destabilize the southern part of the Russian Federation as well as the 
        region of the Caucasus as a whole: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the use of indiscriminate force by the Russian 
        armed forces against civilians in Chechnya;
            (2) urges the Russian Federation--
                    (A) to assist those persons who have been displaced 
                from Chechnya as a result of the conflict; and
                    (B) to allow representatives of the international 
                community access to the internally displaced persons 
                for humanitarian relief; and
            (3) calls upon Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Prime 
        Minister Vladimir Putin to devote every effort, including the 
        use of third-party mediation, to the peaceful resolution of the 
        conflict in Chechnya.
                                 <all>