[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1087 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1087

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that any attempt 
by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to remain in 
office beyond May 7, 2024, shall warrant nonrecognition on the part of 
                           the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 19, 2024

Mr. Cohen (for himself and Mr. Wilson of South Carolina) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that any attempt 
by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to remain in 
office beyond May 7, 2024, shall warrant nonrecognition on the part of 
                           the United States.

Whereas the Russian Federation, as a member of the United Nations and the 
        Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, is bound by 
        international commitments with regard to human rights and the rule of 
        law;
Whereas Article 81(3) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as enacted 
        on December 25, 1993, holds that ``one and the same person cannot occupy 
        the office of President of the Russian Federation for more than two 
        consecutive terms'';
Whereas Vladimir Putin has been President of the Russian Federation for two sets 
        of consecutive terms on two occasions, the first lasting from May 7, 
        2000, to May 7, 2008, and the second, current, and final consecutive 
        terms beginning May 7, 2012, and expiring on May 7, 2024;
Whereas, on July 3, 2020, following votes in both chambers of the Federal 
        Assembly and in regional legislatures and a nationwide popular vote, 
        President Vladimir Putin signed Presidential Decree No. 445 enacting 206 
        amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, including an 
        amendment waiving the term limit for him personally and for Dmitry 
        Medvedev, allowing him to seek 2 more 6-year Presidential terms after 
        May 7, 2024;
Whereas the enactment of constitutional amendments had been conditioned on 
        approval of such amendments in a nationwide vote, referred to as ``all-
        Russia voting'', that was held between June 25 and July 1, 2020, under 
        the unprecedented conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas the 2020 all-Russia voting was invented specifically for voting on 
        Vladimir Putin's constitutional amendments and was an ad hoc type of 
        voting previously unknown in Russia;
Whereas this voting was marked by widespread reports of organized voter 
        coercion, multiple voting, ballot-stuffing, and violation of the secrecy 
        of the ballot, and by one-sided media coverage in favor of the 
        amendments, while opponents of the amendments were not given airtime in 
        the media and had their campaign rallies prohibited and their websites 
        blocked;
Whereas voting was held over 7 days and was conducted not only in regular 
        polling places but also in makeshift locations, including park benches, 
        car trunks, and shopping carts, with ballots stored overnight by the 
        electoral commissions with no independent oversight;
Whereas in violation of the laws of the Russian Federation and the commitments 
        of the Russian Federation under the Organization for Security and Co-
        operation in Europe and the Council of Europe, of which Russia was a 
        member at the time, Russian authorities did not invite international 
        observers to monitor the vote and limited domestic observers to those 
        appointed by state-controlled Public Chambers;
Whereas the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation began 
        announcing the results of the vote before voting had concluded;
Whereas in a statement following the voting, the leaders of the United States 
        delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for 
        Security and Co-operation in Europe, Senator Roger Wicker and the late 
        Representative Alcee Hastings, said that ``the outcome of this vote was 
        decided long before the ballots were tallied'' and that ``State-
        sponsored fraud, coercion, and obfuscation make it impossible to know 
        the true will of the Russian people'';
Whereas Senator James Risch, then-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations 
        of the Senate, has stated that the ``sham vote, masquerading as a 
        referendum, has swept away all remnants of Putin's legitimacy'';
Whereas the Department of State has held that ``[a]round the world, as a matter 
        of principle, the United States opposes constitutional amendments that 
        favor incumbents or extend their terms in office, particularly in 
        contexts where necessary conditions for free and fair democratic 
        processes are lacking'';
Whereas Vladimir Putin has violated every international norm and obligation 
        freely undertaken by the Russian Federation with his unprovoked and 
        brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine;
Whereas Vladimir Putin has openly denied the existence of the Ukrainian people 
        and authorized genocidal action to erase Ukrainian identity;
Whereas Vladimir Putin has made clear his intention to push militarily beyond 
        Ukraine if given the opportunity into NATO member countries and beyond 
        in his expressed effort to reconstruct a Russian imperial entity;
Whereas Vladimir Putin incarcerated Alexei Navalny, one of his strongest 
        remaining opposition figures, who exposed the terrible extent of 
        corruption present in his lawless regime and was nearly killed by a 
        nerve agent attack carried out by Russian security services in 2020; and
Whereas Alexei Navalny was imprisoned in inhumane conditions, often times in 
        solitary confinement with very little food and little to no exercise in 
        the most oppressive prison in Siberia, IK-3 penal colony, where he died 
        under unknown but highly suspicious circumstances on February 16, 2024: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the 2020 amendments to the Constitution of the Russian 
        Federation were enacted in violation of the laws and 
        international commitments of the Russian Federation and many of 
        the amendments are in breach of the so-called ``unchangeable 
        parts'' of the Constitution: Chapter 1 ``Fundamentals of the 
        Constitutional System'' and Chapter 2 ``Human and Civil Rights 
        and Freedoms'';
            (2) the waiver of the Presidential term limit resulting 
        from those amendments is illegitimate; and
            (3) any attempt by President of the Russian Federation 
        Vladimir Putin to remain in office beyond the end of his 
        current and final term on May 7, 2024, shall warrant 
        nonrecognition on the part of the United States.
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