110 HCON 154 EH: Expressing the sense of Congress that the
U.S. House of Representatives
0
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
Whereas Russian dissident and writer Alexander Litvinenko,
a citizen and resident of Great Britain, suddenly fell ill on November 1, 2006,
and died three weeks later in a London hospital;
Whereas British health officials concluded, following an
autopsy, that Mr. Litvinenko died of radiation poisoning caused by ingestion of
the radioactive element polonium-210, and British law enforcement officials
have announced that they are treating Mr. Litvinenko’s death as a
murder;
Whereas polonium-210, according to the Health Physics
Society, radiates alpha particles that cannot penetrate paper or human skin
but, if ingested through eating, drinking, or breathing, are extremely toxic,
with the ability to destroy cells, damage vital organs such as the liver,
kidneys, and bone marrow, cause cancer, and result in human death;
Whereas according to the Health Physics Society, just one
millionth of a gram of polonium-210 can be fatal, an amount invisible to the
naked eye;
Whereas 97 percent of the world’s legal production of
polonium-210 occurs at the Avangard nuclear facility in Russia, and Russia is
the world’s leading exporter of polonium-210 for commercial purposes;
Whereas polonium-210 is presently neither produced in nor
commercially exported to Great Britain;
Whereas polonium-210, being especially dangerous to public
health and safety if improperly handled, may attract the attention of
terrorists because it can be easily and safely concealed and transported and is
not usually detectable by radiation detectors;
Whereas this instance of poisoning by use of polonium-210
could serve as a model for future use of the radioactive element to assassinate
individuals, poison and kill large numbers of people, or spread general panic
and hysteria amongst the public;
Whereas Mr. Litvinenko was a former agent and official in
the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation during the period when
present Russian President Vladimir Putin ran that agency;
Whereas in 1998 Mr. Litvinenko was fired from the Federal
Security Service and subsequently arrested and briefly incarcerated without
conviction for a criminal act after publicly accusing high-level officials of
the Federal Security Service of crimes that included plotting assassination
attempts;
Whereas Mr. Litvinenko fled Russia and successfully sought
asylum in Great Britain, becoming a naturalized British citizen in October
2006;
Whereas Mr. Litvinenko, after arriving in Britain,
repeatedly accused the Federal Security Service and many of its officers,
including now-President Putin, of involvement in organized crime,
assassinations, and other illegal activity;
Whereas on November 1, 2006, before falling ill, Mr.
Litvinenko reportedly met with three citizens of Russia, including former
Federal Security Service agent Andrei Lugovoi;
Whereas the manner in which the polonium-210 was obtained,
transported, and used must be fully investigated and revealed in order to
reveal any defects or inadequacies in the present safeguard regime for that
substance administered by the Russian Government and in order to prevent the
unlawful, criminal, or terrorist acquisition or use of polonium-210 in the
future;
Whereas the danger posed by polonium-210, as displayed by
the discovery, subsequent to Mr. Litvinenko’s death, of numerous cases of its
exposure to objects and persons who had contact with Mr. Litvinenko and his
meal companions, demonstrates the threat that the proliferation and use of
polonium-210 poses to the lives of innocents worldwide, as well as to
international security;
Whereas on July 15, 2006, the United States and Russia
jointly announced the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, which
will enhance cooperation … to combat the global threat of nuclear
terrorism … [including] determined and systematic efforts to improve
accounting, control, and physical protection of nuclear material and
radioactive substances, as well as security of nuclear facilities; [and] detect
and suppress illicit trafficking or other illicit activities involving such
materials, especially measures to prevent their acquisition and use by
terrorists
;
Whereas Mr. Lugovoi has won immunity from prosecution as a
member of the Russian Duma in December 2007 elections allegedly influenced by
government electoral manipulation, which provides credence to claims that he
has enjoyed official support in obtaining that office and its associated
immunity; and
Whereas the British investigation into Mr. Litvinenko’s
murder continues in an atmosphere of deteriorating relations between the United
Kingdom and the Russian Federation due, in part, to a lack of agreement on the
further pursuit of that investigation: Now, therefore, be it
That it is the sense of Congress
that—
(1)the fatal radiation
poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko raises significant concerns about the
potential involvement of elements of the Russian Government in Mr. Litvinenko’s
death, and about the security and proliferation of radioactive
materials;
(2)the use of such
radioactive materials in such cases demonstrates a threat to the safety and
security of the people of the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the
United States, and other countries; and
(3)the President of
the United States and the Secretary of State should urge Russian President
Vladimir Putin and other officials of the Russian Government to cooperate fully
with the British Government in its investigation into Mr. Litvinenko’s death
and to ensure the security of the production, storage, distribution, and export
of polonium-210 as a material that may become dangerous to large numbers of
people if utilized by terrorists.
Passed the House of
Representatives April 1, 2008.
Lorraine C. Miller,
Clerk.