[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 69 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 69

    Expressing the sense of the Senate about the actions of Russia 
                     regarding Georgia and Moldova.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 3, 2005

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

                             March 10, 2005

             Committee discharged; considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing the sense of the Senate about the actions of Russia 
                     regarding Georgia and Moldova.

Whereas the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) evolved 
        from the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which 
        was established in 1975, and the official change of its name from CSCE 
        to OSCE became effective on January 1, 1995;
Whereas the OSCE is the largest regional security organization in the world with 
        55 participating States from Europe, Central Asia, and North America;
Whereas the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the 1990 Charter of Paris, and the 1999 
        Charter for European Security adopted in Istanbul are the principal 
        documents of OSCE, defining a steadily evolving and maturing set of 
        political commitments based on a broad understanding of security;
Whereas the OSCE is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis 
        management, and post-conflict rehabilitation;
Whereas Russia and Georgia agreed at the 1999 OSCE Summit in Istanbul on 
        specific steps regarding the withdrawal from Georgia of Russian forces, 
        including military equipment limited by the Treaty on Conventional Armed 
        Forces in Europe (CFE), and committed to resolve other key issues 
        relating to the status and duration of the Russian military presence in 
        Georgia;
Whereas Russia has completed some of the withdrawal from Georgia of military 
        equipment limited by the CFE Treaty in excess of agreed levels, but has 
        yet to agree with Georgia on the status of Russian forces at the 
        Gudauata base and the duration of the Russian presence at the 
        Akhalkalaki and Batumi bases;
Whereas Russia completed the withdrawal from Moldova of its declared military 
        equipment limited by the CFE Treaty, but has yet to withdraw all its 
        military forces from Moldova, as Russia committed to do at the 1999 OSCE 
        Summit in Istanbul;
Whereas Russia made virtually no progress in 2004 toward its commitment to 
        withdraw its military forces from Moldova;
Whereas Moldova has called for a genuinely international peacekeeping force to 
        replace the Russian forces, and insists on the implementation by Russia 
        of its commitment to withdraw its remaining military forces from 
        Moldova;
Whereas Secretary of State Colin Powell stated at the December 2004 OSCE 
        Ministerial in Sofia, Bulgaria, that ``Russia's commitments to withdraw 
        its military forces from Moldova, and to agree with Georgia on the 
        duration of the Russian military presence there, remain unfulfilled. A 
        core principle of the CFE Treaty is host country agreement to the 
        stationing of forces. The United States remains committed to moving 
        ahead with ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty, but we will only do 
        so after all the Istanbul commitments on Georgia and Moldova have been 
        met. And we stand ready to assist with reasonable costs associated with 
        the implementation of those commitments.'';
Whereas since June 2004, Russia has called for the closure of the OSCE Border 
        Monitoring Operation (BMO), the sole source of objective reporting on 
        border crossings along the border between Georgia and with the Russian 
        republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia;
Whereas OSCE border monitors took up their mission in Georgia in May 2000, and 
        prior to the failure to extend the mandate for the BMO in December 2004, 
        OSCE border monitors, who are unarmed, were deployed at nine locations 
        along that border;
Whereas the current rotation of the BMO includes 65 border monitors from 23 
        countries, including Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, 
        Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, 
        Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, 
        Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States;
Whereas at the December 2004 OSCE Ministerial, Russia blocked renewal of the 
        mandate for the BMO in Georgia;
Whereas Russia has stated that the BMO has accomplished nothing, but it has in 
        fact accomplished a great deal, including observing 746 unarmed and 61 
        armed border crossings in 2004 and serving as a counterweight to 
        inflammatory press reports;
Whereas in response to Russian complaints about the cost-effectiveness of the 
        BMO, the OSCE agreed in December 2004 to cut the number of monitors and 
        thereby reduce the cost of the BMO by almost half;
Whereas the BMO began shutting down on January 1, 2005;
Whereas the staff of the BMO is now dismantling facilities and is not performing 
        its mission;
Whereas the shutdown of the BMO will become irreversible in the second half of 
        March 2005 and is currently scheduled to be completed by May 2005;
Whereas the United States has reiterated its disappointment over the failure of 
        the Permanent Council of the OSCE to reach consensus on renewing the 
        mandate of the BMO, despite request of Georgia, the host country of the 
        BMO, that the OSCE continue the border monitoring operation, and the 
        consensus of all states but one to extend the mandate for the BMO; and
Whereas United States Ambassador to the United States Mission to the OSCE, 
        Stephan M. Minikes, said in a statement to the OSCE Permanent Council in 
        Vienna on January 19, 2005, that ``we believe that the closure of the 
        BMO would remove a key source of peaceful relations and of objective 
        reporting on events at the sensitive border and increase the likelihood 
        of heightened Russia-Georgia tensions.'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United States 
should--
            (1) urge Russia to live up to its commitments at the 1999 
        Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
        Summit in Istanbul regarding Georgia and Moldova;
            (2) in cooperation with its European allies, maintain 
        strong diplomatic pressure to permit the OSCE Border Monitoring 
        Operation (BMO) in Georgia to continue; and
            (3) if the BMO ceases to exist, seek, in cooperation with 
        its European allies, an international presence to monitor 
        objectively border crossings along the border between Georgia 
        and the Russian republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, and 
        Ingushetia.
                                 <all>