[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2957 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2957

 To encourage the promotion of democracy, free, fair, and transparent 
elections, and respect for human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 8, 2004

   Mr. Kyl (for himself, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Domenici) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To encourage the promotion of democracy, free, fair, and transparent 
elections, and respect for human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ukraine Democracy and Fair Elections 
Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States supports the promotion of democracy, 
        free, fair, and transparent elections, and respect for human 
        rights and the rule of law in Ukraine consistent with the 
        commitments of Ukraine as a member country of the Organization 
        for Security and Cooperation in Europe (hereinafter referred to 
        as the ``OSCE'').
            (2) The United States has a vital interest in the 
        independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and in its successful 
        integration into the European community of democracies.
            (3) Elections conducted by the Government of Ukraine 
        between 1994 and 2004 have not satisfied the criteria 
        established for free, fair, and transparent elections 
        consistent with OSCE and European democratic standards.
            (4) Georgiy Gongadze, Igor Alexandrov, and other 
        independent journalists in Ukraine who supported democracy and 
        published critical reports concerning governmental actions have 
        been murdered or have disappeared and are presumed dead.
            (5) Former government officials of Ukraine have made 
        credible allegations and produced evidence that top officials 
        of the government were involved in the disappearances.
            (6) The Government of Ukraine, led by President Leonid D. 
        Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych--
                    (A) systematically harasses and represses 
                independent media and independent trade unions and 
                journalists;
                    (B) actively suppresses freedom of speech and 
                expression and encourages a virtual blackout on 
                national television stations of the main democratic 
                opposition candidate;
                    (C) uses police to block the transit by land of 
                opposition candidates and refuses access for the 
                airplane of the opposition candidates to land at city 
                airports for campaign appearances;
                    (D) uses state and city dump trucks and bulldozers 
                to block access of voters to city squares for 
                appearances by opposition candidates;
                    (E) denies access of opposition candidates to rent 
                government-owned auditoriums and public places for 
                meetings with voters; and
                    (F) denies postal service delivery of opposition 
                campaign literature.
            (7) In spite of statements by President Kuchma and Prime 
        Minister Yanukovych that the presidential election to be held 
        during 2004 will be free, fair, and transparent with an honest 
        ballot count, the presidential election of October 1999, the 
        national referendum of 2000, the parliamentary election of 
        March 2002, and recent by-elections to Parliament and city 
        mayoral races, including the mayoral race in Mukachevo in 
        spring 2004, were determined by OSCE and other local and 
        international observers to be fundamentally unfair.
            (8) These elections failed to meet OSCE standards for 
        democratic elections as formulated in the 1990 Copenhagen 
        Document, and were marred by significant abusive and illegal 
        misconduct that was publicly approved at the highest levels of 
        the government, including--
                    (A) the harassment, arrest, and false 
                disqualification of opposition candidates;
                    (B) the arrest and beating by the police of members 
                of Parliament who were acting as official precinct 
                election observers;
                    (C) the denial of equal and fair access by 
                opposition candidates to the state-controlled 
                television, radio, and print media, and the denial of 
                the use of the postal system for sending opposition 
                campaign mail to voters;
                    (D) the seizure of equipment and property of 
                independent nongovernmental organizations, radio 
                stations, and press organizations and the harassment of 
                their staff and management, causing several individuals 
                to flee to foreign countries for their safety;
                    (E) the implementation of voting and vote counting 
                procedures that were neither transparent nor legal; and
                    (F) the implementation of a campaign of 
                intimidation directed against opposition activists, 
                domestic election observer organizations, and 
                opposition and independent media, including denying 
                newsprint and access to printing plants to the 
                independent media.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 
        International Relations of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Senior government official.--The term ``senior 
        government official'' means, with respect to Ukraine--
                    (A) an individual who--
                            (i) is an official of the Government of 
                        Ukraine, including the president, the 
prime minister, a deputy prime minister, a government minister, a 
chairman or member of a state committee, including the Central Election 
Commission or a regional or local election commission, a member of the 
Presidential Administration, a member of Parliament, a judge, a law 
enforcement officer, a prosecutor, a regional governor, a mayor, an 
administrator, and the head of the Security Services, the State Tax 
Administration, or the State Customs Services; and
                            (ii) is personally involved in the 
                        suppression of freedom and free, fair, and 
                        transparent elections in Ukraine; and
                    (B) any other individual determined by the 
                Secretary of State to be personally involved in the 
                formulation or execution of policies or activities that 
                are in contradiction of internationally recognized 
                human rights and free, fair, and transparent elections 
                standards.

SEC. 4. DECLARATION OF POLICY.

    Congress--
            (1) expresses its support for individuals and organizations 
        in Ukraine that promote--
                    (A) democracy, free, fair, and transparent 
                elections, and respect for human rights and the rule of 
                law in Ukraine; and
                    (B) the integration of Ukraine into the European 
                community of democracies;
            (2) expresses its grave concern over the murders and 
        disappearances of independent journalists in Ukraine, including 
        Georgiy Gongadze and Igor Alexandrov;
            (3) calls upon the President Kuchma and Prime Minister 
        Yanukovych to cease persecution of political opponents and 
        independent journalists and to cease harassment of individuals 
        who try to exercise their rights to freedom of speech, 
        expression, assembly, and association;
            (4) calls upon President Kuchma and Prime Minister 
        Yanukovych to end the pattern of clear, gross, and uncorrected 
        violations of relevant OSCE human dimension commitments and to 
        respect the basic freedoms of speech, expression, assembly, and 
        association; and
            (5) calls upon the Government of Ukraine to resolve the 
        continuing constitutional and political crisis by assuring--
                    (A) a free, fair, and transparent presidential 
                election in 2004;
                    (B) meaningful access by the political opposition 
                to state-controlled media, including access to 
                newsprint and printing plants;
                    (C) full and uninterrupted access for the political 
                opposition to postal delivery services;
                    (D) unimpeded access by the political opposition to 
                public auditoriums and other areas for gathering and 
                meeting with voters;
                    (E) unimpeded transit by road and air for 
                opposition candidates;
                    (F) modification of the electoral code in keeping 
                with OSCE commitments; and
                    (G) full freedom for international observers to 
                monitor the election and ballot counting at local, 
                regional, and national levels.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING MULTILATERAL COOPERATION CONCERNING 
              UKRAINE.

    It is the sense of Congress that the President should coordinate 
with other countries, particularly European countries, to formulate and 
implement a comprehensive and multilateral strategy to further the 
purposes of this Act, including, as appropriate, encouraging other 
countries to take measures with respect to Ukraine that are similar to 
the measures described in this Act.

SEC. 6. SANCTIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE.

    (a) Application and Timing of Sanctions.--Until the President makes 
the determination that Ukraine meets all the requirements specified in 
subsection (b) and certifies such determination to the appropriate 
congressional committees, the President shall direct that the sanctions 
described in subsection (c) shall apply immediately with respect to 
Ukraine.
    (b) Certification.--A certification under this subsection is a 
certification transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees 
of a determination made by the President that the following has 
occurred with respect to Ukraine:
            (1) The implementation of free, fair, and transparent 
        elections for president and Parliament fully consistent with 
        OSCE standards for democratic elections and in cooperation with 
        relevant OSCE and Council of Europe institutions.
            (2) The cessation of all forms of harassment and repression 
        against the media, independent trade unions, nongovernmental 
        organizations, religious organizations, and the political 
        opposition.
            (3) The withdrawal and cessation of politically motivated 
        legal charges against opposition figures and independent 
        journalists.
    (c) Sanctions Described.--
            (1) Denial of entry into united states.--The President 
        shall direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to deny entry 
        under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1182(f)) to the United States of any alien who--
                    (A) is a senior government official in the 
                government of Ukraine; or
                    (B) is a spouse, minor child, or agent of such an 
                alien.
            (2) Seizure of assets in united states.--The President 
        shall direct the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the 
        Department of the Treasury to identify and seize the personal 
        assets or personal financial accounts in the United States 
        obtained by improper or illicit means of any alien who--
                    (A) is a senior government official in the 
                government of Ukraine; or
                    (B) is a spouse, minor child, or agent of such an 
                alien.
            (3) Prohibitions on loans and investment.--The President 
        shall direct that--
                    (A) no loan, credit guarantee, insurance, 
                financing, or other similar financial assistance is 
                provided on or after the date of the enactment of this 
                Act by any agency of the United States, including by 
                the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the 
                Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to the 
                Government of Ukraine (except with respect to the 
                provision of humanitarian goods and agricultural or 
                medical products); and
                    (B) no funds made available to the U.S. Trade and 
                Development Agency may be made available on or after 
                the date of the enactment of this Act for any activity 
                or project of the Agency in or for Ukraine.
            (4) International financial institutions.--The President 
        shall direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the 
        United States executive director to each appropriate 
        international financial institution in which the United States 
        participates, to oppose and vote against the extension by each 
        such institution of any loan or financial or technical 
        assistance or grant to the Government of Ukraine (except for 
        loans and assistance that serve humanitarian needs).
    (d) Waiver.--
            (1) In general.--The President may waive the application of 
        subsection (c)(1), (c)(2), (c)(3), or (c)(4), or any 
        combination of such subsections, if the President determines--
                    (A) that it is in the national security interest of 
                the United States to do so;
                    (B) that a new president is elected in Ukraine in 
                November 2004 who--
                            (i) has corrected the abuses and election 
                        irregularities outlined under section 2; and
                            (ii) has pledged to conduct a free, fair, 
                        and transparent election in the parliamentary 
                        election scheduled for March 2006; or
                    (C) that in the case of the application any such 
                subsection or combination of such subsections to an 
                individual, such individual was not directly or 
                indirectly involved in any of the abuses or election 
                irregularities outlined under section 2.
            (2) Certification.--If the President exercises the waiver 
        under paragraph (1), the President shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a report containing the 
        reasons for such waiver.

SEC. 7. REPORTS.

    (a) Dates for Submission.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the President 
shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 
containing the information required by subsection (b). In the case of 
the second and all subsequent reports, each such report shall contain 
such information with respect to the preceding 12-month period.
    (b) Contents.--The reports required by subsection (a) shall contain 
information regarding the following:
            (1) The personal assets and bank accounts of the current 
        president, prime minister and other senior government officials 
        of the Government of Ukraine that are located in the United 
        States or other country, and, if such assets and accounts are 
        determined to have been acquired through improper or illicit 
        means, any actions the United States has taken to investigate 
        and seize such assets and accounts and encourage such other 
        country to take similar action.
            (2) The sale or delivery of weapons or weapons-related 
        technologies from Ukraine to any country, the government of 
        which the Secretary of State has determined, for purposes of 
        section 6(j)(1) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 
        U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)), has repeatedly provided support for 
        acts of international terrorism.
            (3) An identification of each country described in 
        paragraph (2) and a detailed description of the weapons or 
        weapons-related technologies involved in such sale.
            (4) An identification of the goods, services, credits, or 
        other consideration received by Ukraine in exchange for the 
        weapons or weapons-related technologies involved in such sale.
    (c) Form.--A report transmitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall be 
in unclassified form but may contain a classified annex.
                                 <all>