[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 28, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 52--CALLING FOR THE RELEASE OF UKRAINIAN FIGHTER 
 PILOT NADIYA SAVCHENKO, WHO WAS CAPTURED BY RUSSIAN FORCES IN EASTERN 
UKRAINE AND HAS BEEN HELD ILLEGALLY IN A RUSSIAN PRISON SINCE JULY 2014

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. Wicker) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 52

       Whereas Nadiya Savchenko is the first-ever female fighter 
     pilot in Ukraine's Armed Forces and is an Iraqi war veteran;
       Whereas, in the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Nadiya 
     Savchenko volunteered her services to the Ukrainian Aidar 
     battalion;
       Whereas Nadiya Savchenko was elected in absentia from the 
     Batkivshchyna Party to Ukraine's Parliament in October 2014, 
     and appointed to the Parliament Assembly of the Council of 
     Europe (PACE) as a representative from Ukraine;
       Whereas, as a member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 
     Lieutenant Nadiya Savchenko was conducting operations in 
     eastern Ukraine against pro-Russian forces in the summer of 
     2014 when she was captured and taken into captivity;
       Whereas, during her mission in Eastern Ukraine, she was 
     captured by the Donbas People's Militia, detained on 
     Ukrainian territory, deprived of rights to due process, and 
     illegally transferred to the Russian Federation to stand 
     trial on unsubstantiated charges of terrorism;
       Whereas, since July 2014, Nadiya Savchenko has endured 
     involuntary psychiatric evaluations and solitary confinement;
       Whereas Nadiya Savchenko is currently entering her sixth 
     week of a hunger strike as a symbol of her protest;
       Whereas Nadiya Savchenko is denied access to urgently 
     needed medical attention and access to legal counsel;
       Whereas the Minsk Protocol of September 2014, signed by 
     Ukraine and the Russian Federation, calls for the ``immediate 
     release of all hostages and illegally held persons'';
       Whereas appeals have been made to the United Nations Human 
     Rights Council and the International Red Cross to secure 
     Nadiya Savchenko's release;
       Whereas the international community, including 
     representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council 
     of Europe (PACE) and of the United States, have urged her 
     immediate release;
       Whereas, on January 26, 2015, the opening day of the 
     Parliamentary Assembly, the global community embarks on a 
     public campaign to bring attention to the plight of Nadiya 
     Savchenko and demand her immediate release; and
       Whereas the Government and people of the United States 
     express concern about the deteriorating health of detained 
     pilot Nadiya Savchenko and her continued illegal 
     imprisonment: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the Government of the Russian Federation for 
     its illegal imprisonment of Nadiya Savchenko;
       (2) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to 
     immediately release Nadiya Savchenko;
       (3) calls on the United States, its European allies, and 
     the international community to aggressively support efforts 
     to release Nadiya Savchenko and other illegally detained 
     persons; and
       (4) expresses solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

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