[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 50 (Thursday, March 22, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1951-S1952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 442--EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM 
               AFTER THE NERVE AGENT ATTACK IN SALISBURY

  Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Portman, and Mrs. Shaheen) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations.:

                              S. Res. 442

       Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have a 
     special relationship grounded in the rule of law, democratic 
     principles, a common language, and a strong commitment to 
     peace and security;
       Whereas, on August 14, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt 
     and Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic 
     Charter, which defined American and British war aims and laid 
     the foundation for a post-war international system founded on 
     free trade and freedom of the seas that persists to this day;
       Whereas, on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his 
     ``Iron Curtain Speech'' in Fulton, Missouri, stating, 
     ``Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise 
     of world organization will be gained without what I have 
     called the fraternal association of the English-speaking 
     peoples. . . a special relationship between the British 
     Commonwealth and Empire and the United States.'';
       Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have stood 
     side by side through two World Wars, the Korean War, the Cold 
     War, the Gulf War, and the ongoing wars in Iraq and 
     Afghanistan with Americans and Britons fighting and dying 
     together to defend our common interests and principles;
       Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have 
     played central roles in the North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization (NATO) and are critical to maintaining its 
     future strength;
       Whereas, in the 1970s and 1980s, scientists in the Soviet 
     Union developed a group of advanced nerve agents, known as 
     ``Novichok'', designed to escape detection by international 
     inspectors;
       Whereas Russia is party to the Convention on the 
     Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and 
     Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, done at 
     Paris January 13, 1993 (commonly known as the ``Chemical 
     Weapons Convention''), which clearly prohibits the production 
     and use of chemical weapons;
       Whereas former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was killed 
     by a radioactive substance in London in November 2006, and an 
     inquiry by the Government of the United Kingdom found that 
     President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin 
     ``probably'' approved the murder;
       Whereas, on March 4, 2018, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, 
     Yulia Skripal, were found unconscious on a park bench in 
     Salisbury, United Kingdom;
       Whereas dozens of British civilians and first responders 
     were exposed to the nerve agent, a British police officer who 
     responded to the attack remains seriously ill, and the lives 
     of innocent British citizens and residents of Salisbury have 
     been endangered;
       Whereas, on March 12, 2018, Theresa May, Prime Minister of 
     the United Kingdom, in a speech before the House of Commons, 
     noted that the attack was conducted ``with a military-grade 
     nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. This is part of a 
     group of nerve agents known as `Novichok' '';
       Whereas, on March 12, 2018, Secretary of State Rex 
     Tillerson noted the nerve agent ``came from Russia'' and 
     ``does not exist widely'', and that its use would ``certainly 
     trigger a response'';
       Whereas, on March 14, 2018, the United Kingdom expelled 23 
     Russian diplomats identified as undeclared intelligence 
     officers;
       Whereas, on March 14, 2018, United States Ambassador to the 
     United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States ``stands in 
     absolute solidarity'' with the United Kingdom and that ``the 
     United States believes that Russia is responsible for the 
     attack''; and
       Whereas, on March 15, 2018, the United States, the United 
     Kingdom, France, and Germany issued a joint statement and 
     noted the incident ``constitutes the first offensive use of a 
     nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War'' and that 
     ``there is no plausible alternative explanation'' to Russia's 
     responsibility for the attack: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) reaffirms the special relationship between the United 
     States and the United Kingdom;
       (2) expresses its solidarity with the people of Salisbury 
     and the United Kingdom;
       (3) reiterates its commitment to collective defense and 
     security through NATO;
       (4) wishes for the full recovery of Sergei Skripal, his 
     daughter, and the British police official seriously injured 
     in the attack;
       (5) condemns the indiscriminate and reckless assault by the 
     Government of the Russian Federation on United Kingdom 
     sovereignty, and notes that any use of a nerve agent by a 
     state party is a clear contravention of the Chemical Weapons 
     Convention and a violation of international law;
       (6) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to 
     fully and completely answer questions related to the chemical 
     attack and also provide full and comprehensive disclosure of 
     its Novichok program to the Organization for the Prohibition 
     of Chemical Weapons (OPCW); and
       (7) urges the President of the United States to personally 
     condemn the attack in clear, unambiguous terms and to take 
     proportionate, measured, and defensive retaliatory actions 
     against the Government of the Russian Federation in 
     coordination with United States allies in Europe.

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