[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1145 Engrossed in House (EH)]

<DOC>
H. Res. 1145

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                     November 18, 2020.
Whereas Alexei Navalny is a well-known anticorruption activist and leader of the 
        political opposition in Russia;
Whereas Mr. Navalny garnered 27 percent of the vote in the 2013 Moscow mayoral 
        election;
Whereas since that election, Mr. Navalny and his party have been repeatedly 
        denied the opportunity to compete in elections;
Whereas Mr. Navalny has been imprisoned multiple times for participating in 
        unsanctioned protests;
Whereas Mr. Navalny was attacked twice with a chemical substance in 2017 and 
        potentially poisoned in 2019 while in prison;
Whereas over the years a number of Russian journalists, human rights activists, 
        politicians, whistleblowers, and others have been killed or died under 
        mysterious circumstances, in Russia and overseas, including--

    (1) former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko (in London) and 
investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006;

    (2) human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, journalist Anastasia 
Baburova, whistleblower lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, and human rights activist 
Natalya Estemirova in 2009; and

    (3) opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in 2015;

Whereas, on August 20, 2020, Mr. Navalny fell ill while on a domestic flight in 
        Russia;
Whereas, on August 22, 2020, Mr. Navalny was evacuated by airlift from Omsk, 
        Russia, to Berlin, Germany, for his protection and to ensure he would 
        receive a high standard of health care to improve his chances of 
        recovery;
Whereas German chemical weapons experts conducted tests and found 
        ``unequivocal'' evidence that Mr. Navalny had been poisoned with a 
        Soviet-era military-grade chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group;
Whereas specialized laboratories in France and Sweden confirmed that Mr. Navalny 
        was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has repeatedly denied that Mr. 
        Navalny was poisoned;
Whereas the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has called on the 
        Government of the Russian Federation to open an investigation into Mr. 
        Navalny's case;
Whereas the Russian Federation is a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention 
        (CWC);
Whereas, in November 2019, after Russian agents used a Novichok-class nerve 
        agent in an attempted assassination of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal 
        in the United Kingdom in March 2018, CWC parties agreed to add the 
        Novichok group of nerve agents to ``Schedule 1'', a list of chemicals 
        classified as chemical warfare agents that are subject to declaration 
        requirements and other restrictions;
Whereas, on September 4, 2020, NATO strongly condemned the attack on Mr. Navalny 
        and called on the Russian Federation to cooperate with the Organization 
        for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on an impartial, international 
        investigation;
Whereas the G7 foreign ministers issued a statement on September 8, 2020, that 
        called on the Government of the Russian Federation ``to urgently and 
        fully establish transparency on who is responsible for this abhorrent 
        poisoning attack and, bearing in mind Russia's commitments under the 
        Chemical Weapons Convention, to bring the perpetrators to justice'';
Whereas the Russian Federation is a state party to the International Covenant on 
        Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);
Whereas Article 6 of the ICCPR states that ``Every human being has the inherent 
        right to life'' and ``No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his 
        life'';
Whereas Article 9 of the ICCPR states that ``Everyone has the right to liberty 
        and security of person.'';
Whereas the Russian Federation is a member of the Organization for Security and 
        Cooperation in Europe (OSCE);
Whereas respect for human rights is key to the OSCE's comprehensive approach to 
        security and therefore the OSCE monitors the human rights situation in 
        its 57 participating states;
Whereas pressure on Germany to reconsider its support for the Nord Stream 2 
        pipeline from the United States and international community, including 
        many European Union countries, as well as from leading politicians 
        within Germany, has grown since the attack on Mr. Navalny;
Whereas Congress passed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 
        2012 (title IV of Public Law 112-208) and the Global Magnitsky Human 
        Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-
        328) in 2016 to provide the United States Government with authorities to 
        respond to grave violations of human rights and corruption in Russia; 
        and
Whereas in response to the Novichok-class nerve agent attack described in this 
        preamble against United Kingdom national and former Russian spy Sergei 
        Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018, the United States Government 
        imposed two rounds of sanctions on Russia pursuant to the Chemical and 
        Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (Public 
        Law 102-182; 22 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.): Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the apparently purposeful poisoning on August 20, 2020, 
        of Russian anticorruption activist and opposition leader Alexei Navalny;
            (2) expresses its appreciation for the prompt and generous efforts 
        of the Cinema for Peace Foundation and the Government of the Federal 
        Republic of Germany to ensure high-quality health care for Mr. Navalny 
        after he was poisoned by facilitating his transfer by airlift from 
        Russia to Germany;
            (3) welcomes reports that Mr. Navalny has emerged from a medically 
        induced coma and is gradually recovering from the poisoning;
            (4) hopes for Mr. Navalny's full and complete recovery so that he 
        may promptly resume his life and work;
            (5) urges the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
        and multilateral human rights monitoring bodies to monitor the case of 
        the August 2020 poisoning of Alexei Navalny as a probable violation of 
        his fundamental human rights and to respond accordingly;
            (6) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to cooperate 
        with independent, impartial, and thorough investigations by competent 
        authorities and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 
        of the reported poisoning of Alexei Navalny;
            (7) calls on the United States Government to support international 
        or multilateral efforts to ensure an independent, impartial, and 
        thorough investigations by competent authorities and the Organization 
        for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of the reported poisoning of 
        Alexei Navalny;
            (8) urges the United States Government, in all its interactions with 
        the Government of the Russian Federation, to raise the case of the 
        poisoning of Alexei Navalny and underscore the necessity of bringing the 
        organizers and perpetrators to justice;
            (9) calls on the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the 
        Treasury to use their authority under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law 
        Accountability Act of 2012 (title IV of Public Law 112-208) and the 
        Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title 
        XII of Public Law 114-328) to designate individuals whom they determine 
        upon investigation to have been involved in the poisoning of Alexei 
        Navalny as perpetrators, organizers, or masterminds, on the list of 
        specially designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by the 
        Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury, 
        freezing their assets and making them ineligible to receive United 
        States visas; and
            (10) supports the 60-day review period triggered by the submission 
        of a letter to the President by the Chair and Ranking Member of the 
        Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives to investigate 
        whether the poisoning of Alexei Navalny constitutes use of a chemical 
        weapon by the Government of the Russian Federation in contravention of 
        international law, and if so, to impose sanctions pursuant to the 
        Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 
        1991 (Public Law 102-182; 22 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.).
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.