[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 50 (Friday, April 6, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S3766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 1944 DEPORTATION OF 
                           THE CHECHEN PEOPLE

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
now proceed to the consideration of calendar No. 27, S. Res. 27.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 27) to express the sense of the 
     Senate regarding the 1944 deportation of the Chechen people 
     to central Asia, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, and finally, that any statements 
appear at this point in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 27) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                               S. Res. 27

       Whereas for more than 200 years, the Chechen people have 
     resisted the efforts of the Russian government to drive them 
     from their land and to deny them their own culture;
       Whereas beginning on February 23, 1944, nearly 500,000 
     Chechen civilians from the northern Caucasus were arrested en 
     masse and forced onto trains for deportation to central Asia;
       Whereas tens of thousands of Chechens, mainly women, 
     children, and the elderly, died en route to central Asia;
       Whereas mass killings and the use of poisons against the 
     Chechen people accompanied the deportation;
       Whereas the Chechen deportees were not given food, housing, 
     or medical attention upon their arrival in central Asia;
       Whereas the Soviet Union actively attempted to suppress 
     expressions of Chechen culture, including language, 
     architecture, literature, music, and familial relations 
     during the exile of the Chechen people;
       Whereas it is generally accepted that more than one-third 
     of the Chechen population died in transit during the 
     deportation or while living in exile in central Asia;
       Whereas the deportation order was not repealed until 1957;
       Whereas the Chechens who returned to Chechnya found their 
     homes and land taken over by new residents who violently 
     opposed the Chechen return; and
       Whereas neither the Soviet Union, nor its successor, the 
     Russian Federation, has ever accepted full responsibility for 
     the brutalities inflicted upon the Chechen people: Now, 
     therefore, be it
         Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
         (1) the United States should commemorate the 57th 
     anniversary of the brutal deportation of the Chechen people 
     from their native land;
         (2) the current war in Chechnya should be viewed within 
     the historical context of repeated abuses suffered by the 
     Chechen people at the hands of the Russian state;
         (3) the United States Government should make every effort 
     to alleviate the suffering of the Chechen people; and
         (4) it is in the interests of the United States, the 
     Russian Federation, Chechnya, and the international community 
     to find an immediate, peaceful, and political solution to the 
     war in Chechnya.

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