[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.
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