[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 677 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 677

 Condemning the Government of the Russian Federation for exacerbating 
   global food insecurity through its illegal, unprovoked full-scale 
                          invasion of Ukraine.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2023

 Mr. Peters (for himself, Mr. Kean of New Jersey, Mr. Keating, and Mr. 
Fitzpatrick) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the Government of the Russian Federation for exacerbating 
   global food insecurity through its illegal, unprovoked full-scale 
                          invasion of Ukraine.

Whereas Ukraine has historically been a significant supplier of agricultural 
        products for global markets, providing food for nearly 400 million 
        people around the world, is the world's fifth largest exporter of wheat, 
        and provides over 11 percent of cereals to the world;
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched an unprovoked, 
        full-scale invasion of the sovereign country of Ukraine;
Whereas throughout the invasion, the Russian Federation has consistently mined 
        Ukrainian farmland and bombed grain silos;
Whereas, beginning on that date, the Russian Federation implemented an illegal 
        naval blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, disrupting Ukraine's 
        food exports, driving up global food prices and exacerbating global food 
        insecurity;
Whereas given many developing countries' pre-war reliance on Ukrainian 
        foodstuffs, the Russian Federation's illegal blockade of Ukrainian ports 
        disproportionately harmed millions of people who were already struggling 
        with food insecurity before the war;
Whereas, in May 2022, the European Union established and provided significant 
        investment for Solidarity Lanes as road, rail, and inland waterway 
        alternatives to facilitate the export of Ukrainian agricultural and 
        nonagricultural products to global markets despite the Russian 
        Federation's illegal naval blockade of Ukraine;
Whereas Ukrainian ports along the Danube River serve as an important alternative 
        route for the export of Ukrainian goods, and are now a critical Black 
        Sea shipping outlet for millions of tons of Ukrainian grain, but cannot 
        accommodate all the grain previously transported from Black Sea ports;
Whereas the Ukrainian Danube River ports have repeatedly been struck by Russian 
        attacks following the Russian Federation's withdrawal from the Black Sea 
        Grain Initiative, destroying thousands of tons of grain and damaging 
        necessary port infrastructure;
Whereas, on July 27, 2022, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Turkey, and the 
        United Nations launched the Black Sea Grain Initiative ``to ensure the 
        safe passage of commercial vessels carrying grain, foodstuffs, and 
        fertilizers, including ammonia, in and out of three Ukrainian ports; 
        Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny (Pivdennyi)'';
Whereas under this initiative, teams of Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish, and United 
        Nations officials inspected cargo ships inbound to or outbound from 
        Ukrainian ports and traveling along a specified humanitarian corridor;
Whereas until the Russian Federation suspended its participation, the Black Sea 
        Grain Initiative facilitated the export of nearly 33 million metric tons 
        of grain;
Whereas, during the period in which the Black Sea Grain Initiative was active, 
        the Russian Federation reportedly delayed inspections of eligible 
        vessels, reducing the amount of agricultural products that were exported 
        from Ukraine to millions of people who relied on them;
Whereas, on July 17, 2023, the Russian Federation suspended its participation in 
        the Black Sea Grain Initiative and soon thereafter announced that it 
        would consider civilian vessels traveling in the Black Sea to be valid 
        military targets;
Whereas despite the Kremlin's claims to the contrary in justifying its decision 
        to suspend the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia is making significant 
        profits from its grain exports;
Whereas the Russian Federation defended its suspension of participation in the 
        initiative by falsely claiming that Western sanctions enacted against it 
        in response to its invasion of Ukraine prohibited exports of Russian 
        agricultural products to the world, despite longstanding humanitarian 
        carve-outs in European Union and United States sanctions regimes;
Whereas, since suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, 
        the Russian Federation has launched missile and drone strikes against 
        ports previously involved in the Initiative such as Odesa and Mykolaiv, 
        in addition to inland ports on the Danube River, damaging port and grain 
        processing infrastructure, at least 5 civilian vessels, and destroying 
        more than 180,000 tons of grain; and
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 2417 (2018), to which the 
        Russian Federation agreed, calls ``on all parties to armed conflict to 
        comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law 
        regarding . . . taking constant care to spare civilian objects, 
        including objects necessary for food production and distribution'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the Russian Federation for suspending its 
        participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative;
            (2) calls on the Russian Federation to immediately resume 
        participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative or pledge 
        noninterference for commercial grain shipping in the Black Sea 
        without any preconditions to avoid a global food crisis, and 
        demands the Russian Federation ceases the targeting of 
        Ukrainian grain storage and port facilities;
            (3) affirms that the Russian Federation's unprovoked full-
        scale invasion and illegal naval blockade of Ukraine are to 
        blame for rising global food insecurity, and affirms that 
        civilian vessels are not targets of war;
            (4) considers the Russian Federation's weaponization of 
        hunger to be a deliberate element of its strategy to coerce 
        Ukraine into agreeing to an unfavorable negotiated settlement 
        to the war;
            (5) believes rising global food insecurity worsened by the 
        Russian Federation's unprovoked full-scale invasion and illegal 
        naval blockade of Ukraine threatens United States national 
        security;
            (6) commends the European Union's Solidarity Lanes for 
        being excellent examples of the benefits of burden sharing in 
        tackling shared challenges;
            (7) supports any other efforts to work with like-minded 
        allies and partners to meet the food needs of countries most 
        impacted by food insecurity arising from the Russian 
        Federation's invasion of Ukraine; and
            (8) expresses solidarity with all people affected by food 
        insecurity resulting from the Russian Federation's war against 
        Ukraine.
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