[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 442 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 442

  Expressing solidarity with the United Kingdom after the nerve agent 
                          attack in Salisbury.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 22, 2018

   Mr. Coons (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Portman, and Mrs. Shaheen) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing solidarity with the United Kingdom after the nerve agent 
                          attack in Salisbury.

Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have a special relationship 
        grounded in the rule of law, democratic principles, a common language, 
        and a strong commitment to peace and security;
Whereas, on August 14, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister 
        Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, which defined American 
        and British war aims and laid the foundation for a post-war 
        international system founded on free trade and freedom of the seas that 
        persists to this day;
Whereas, on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his ``Iron Curtain 
        Speech'' in Fulton, Missouri, stating, ``Neither the sure prevention of 
        war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained 
        without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-
        speaking peoples . . . a special relationship between the British 
        Commonwealth and Empire and the United States.'';
Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have stood side by side through 
        two World Wars, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and the 
        ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with Americans and Britons fighting 
        and dying together to defend our common interests and principles;
Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have played central roles in 
        the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and are critical to 
        maintaining its future strength;
Whereas, in the 1970s and 1980s, scientists in the Soviet Union developed a 
        group of advanced nerve agents, known as ``Novichok'', designed to 
        escape detection by international inspectors;
Whereas Russia is party to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, 
        Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their 
        Destruction, done at Paris January 13, 1993 (commonly known as the 
        ``Chemical Weapons Convention''), which clearly prohibits the production 
        and use of chemical weapons;
Whereas former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was killed by a radioactive 
        substance in London in November 2006, and an inquiry by the Government 
        of the United Kingdom found that President of the Russian Federation 
        Vladimir Putin ``probably'' approved the murder;
Whereas, on March 4, 2018, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were 
        found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury, United Kingdom;
Whereas dozens of British civilians and first responders were exposed to the 
        nerve agent, a British police officer who responded to the attack 
        remains seriously ill, and the lives of innocent British citizens and 
        residents of Salisbury have been endangered;
Whereas, on March 12, 2018, Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 
        in a speech before the House of Commons, noted that the attack was 
        conducted ``with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by 
        Russia. This is part of a group of nerve agents known as `Novichok''';
Whereas, on March 12, 2018, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson noted the nerve 
        agent ``came from Russia'' and ``does not exist widely'', and that its 
        use would ``certainly trigger a response'';
Whereas, on March 14, 2018, the United Kingdom expelled 23 Russian diplomats 
        identified as undeclared intelligence officers;
Whereas, on March 14, 2018, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki 
        Haley said the United States ``stands in absolute solidarity'' with the 
        United Kingdom and that ``the United States believes that Russia is 
        responsible for the attack''; and
Whereas, on March 15, 2018, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and 
        Germany issued a joint statement and noted the incident ``constitutes 
        the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second 
        World War'' and that ``there is no plausible alternative explanation'' 
        to Russia's responsibility for the attack: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) reaffirms the special relationship between the United 
        States and the United Kingdom;
            (2) expresses its solidarity with the people of Salisbury 
        and the United Kingdom;
            (3) reiterates its commitment to collective defense and 
        security through NATO;
            (4) wishes for the full recovery of Sergei Skripal, his 
        daughter, and the British police official seriously injured in 
        the attack;
            (5) condemns the indiscriminate and reckless assault by the 
        Government of the Russian Federation on United Kingdom 
        sovereignty, and notes that any use of a nerve agent by a state 
        party is a clear contravention of the Chemical Weapons 
        Convention and a violation of international law;
            (6) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to 
        fully and completely answer questions related to the chemical 
        attack and also provide full and comprehensive disclosure of 
        its Novichok program to the Organization for the Prohibition of 
        Chemical Weapons (OPCW); and
            (7) urges the President of the United States to personally 
        condemn the attack in clear, unambiguous terms and to take 
        proportionate, measured, and defensive retaliatory actions 
        against the Government of the Russian Federation in 
        coordination with United States allies in Europe.
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