[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 27, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1543-S1544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 81--CALLING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND JUSTICE FOR THE 
                     ASSASSINATION OF BORIS NEMTSOV

  Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. Coons, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Durbin, Mr. 
Johnson, and Mr. Gardner) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 81

       Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a Russian statesman, who over 
     twenty-five years of public service served as Member of 
     Parliament, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and First 
     Deputy Prime Minister of Russia;
       Whereas Boris Nemtsov throughout his life showed an 
     unwavering commitment to the ideals of democracy, freedom, 
     and the rule of law, and to upholding the rights and dignity 
     of Russian citizens;
       Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a powerful voice in opposition to 
     the authoritarianism and corruption of Vladimir Putin's 
     government, publicizing its abuses, leading street protests 
     against election fraud and the war on Ukraine, and 
     successfully advocating for international sanctions on human 
     rights violators;
       Whereas Boris Nemtsov was co-chairman of a leading 
     opposition party, won election to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma 
     in 2013, and was planning to run for the Russian Parliament 
     in 2016 and challenge Vladimir Putin for the presidency in 
     2018;
       Whereas, on the evening of February 27, 2015, Boris Nemtsov 
     was shot in the back and killed as he walked across Bolshoi 
     Moskvoretsky Bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow;
       Whereas, on March 7 and 8, 2015, Russian authorities 
     arrested five individuals, all of them natives of the Chechen 
     Republic, on suspicion of carrying out the assassination, 
     while a sixth suspect allegedly blew himself up during the 
     attempted arrest;
       Whereas the defendants were tried at the Moscow District 
     Military Court, which on June 29, 2017, found them guilty of 
     carrying out the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, and on July 
     13, 2017, sentenced them to different prison terms;
       Whereas, at the time of the assassination, the now-
     convicted gunman, Zaur Dadayev, was serving as a Lieutenant 
     in the Internal Troops of the Interior Ministry of the 
     Russian Federation and as Deputy Battalion Commander in the 
     ``Sever'' (``North'') Regiment stationed in the Chechen 
     Republic, under the command of the Internal Troops Commander, 
     General Viktor Zolotov, and the Kremlin-backed head of the 
     Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov;
       Whereas Ramzan Kadyrov has called Lieutenant Zaur Dadayev a 
     ``true patriot'' and has publicly referred to Boris Nemtsov 
     as an ``enemy of Russia'';
       Whereas by Decree No. 115 issued on March 8, 2015, 
     President Vladimir Putin awarded Ramzan Kadyrov the Order of 
     Honor;
       Whereas, according to reports published in RBC newspaper on 
     January 20, 2016, General Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of 
     the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, has on 
     two occasions prevented investigators from indicting Major 
     Ruslan Geremeyev, Battalion Commander in the ``Sever'' 
     (``North'') Regiment of the Internal Troops of the Ministry 
     of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation stationed in 
     the Chechen Republic and a close associate of Ramzan Kadyrov, 
     as an organizer in the assassination;
       Whereas, according to reports published in Novaya Gazeta 
     newspaper on December 9, 2016, operatives of the Federal 
     Security Service of the Russian Federation in the Chechen 
     Republic have failed to serve Major Ruslan Geremeyev with a 
     summons for questioning as a witness, reporting to their 
     superiors that on the sole occasion they attempted to do so, 
     ``nobody opened the door'';
       Whereas, despite requests from the legal team representing 
     Boris Nemtsov's family, the Investigative Committee of the 
     Russian Federation and the Moscow District Military Court 
     have refused to question high-ranking persons of interest, 
     including Ramzan Kadyrov and General Viktor Zolotov;
       Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian 
     Federation has, to this day, not issued any indictments 
     against the organizers or masterminds of the assassination of 
     Boris Nemtsov, with the exception of Major Ruslan Geremeyev's 
     driver, Ruslan Mukhudinov, who is named alongside ``other 
     unidentified persons'';
       Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian 
     Federation and the Moscow District Military Court have 
     refused to classify the assassination of Boris Nemtsov under 
     Article 277 of the Criminal Code as ``encroachment on the 
     life of a statesman or a public figure,'' choosing instead 
     Article 105 that deals with common domestic murders;
       Whereas, throughout the proceedings at the Moscow District 
     Military Court, the judge repeatedly disallowed questions 
     relating to political motives behind the assassination;
       Whereas the Federal Protective Service of the Russian 
     Federation has refused to release video footage from the 
     security cameras on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge from the 
     night of the assassination, claiming in a letter to State 
     Duma Member Dmitry Gudkov on November 6, 2015, that the 
     bridge next to the Kremlin is ``not a protected object'';
       Whereas, on May 18, 2017, the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
     Council of Europe appointed Lithuanian Member of Parliament 
     Emanuelis Zingeris as its special rapporteur on the need to 
     shed light on the background of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, 
     with a mandate to review and report on the case and on the 
     progress of the official Russian investigation;
       Whereas, on May 24, 2018, the Russian Foreign Ministry 
     informed Emanuelis Zingeris that he is forbidden from 
     entering the Russian Federation;
       Whereas, at its twenty-seventh annual session held on July 
     7-11, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization 
     for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) adopted a 
     resolution urging Russian authorities to ``undertake a new, 
     full and thorough investigation into the February 2015 
     assassination of Boris Nemtsov'';
       Whereas, on July 8, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
     Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe held a 
     public event to discuss the need for OSCE oversight of the 
     official Russian investigation into the assassination of 
     Boris Nemtsov;
       Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation are 
     full members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation 
     in Europe;
       Whereas the OSCE Moscow Document has established that 
     ``issues relating to human rights, fundamental freedoms, 
     democracy and the rule of law. . . are matters of direct and 
     legitimate concern to all participating States and do not 
     belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the State 
     concerned'';
       Whereas, on February 27, 2018, Washington, D.C. designated 
     the street in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation 
     as ``Boris Nemtsov Plaza'' to honor Mr. Nemtsov; and
       Whereas, on February 22, 2019, the President of the 
     Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and 
     Cooperation in Europe, George Tsereteli, appointed Swedish 
     Member of Parliament and Vice President of the Assembly 
     Margareta Cederfelt as the rapporteur on the investigation of 
     the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, with a mandate to review 
     and report on the case and on the progress of the official 
     Russian investigation: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commemorates the life of Russian opposition leader 
     Boris Nemtsov and his work to advance democracy and human 
     rights in Russia;
       (2) condemns Vladimir Putin and his regime for targeting 
     political opponents and working to cover up the assassination 
     of Boris Nemtsov;
       (3) urges the United States Government, in all its 
     interactions with the Government of the Russian Federation, 
     to raise the case of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov and 
     underscore the necessity of bringing the organizers and 
     masterminds to justice;
       (4) supports the efforts by the Organization for Security 
     and Cooperation in Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly to 
     initiate oversight of the official Russian investigation into 
     the assassination of Boris Nemtsov;
       (5) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to 
     allow an impartial international investigation of the 
     assassination of Boris Nemtsov and to cooperate with the 
     Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and 
     Cooperation in Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
     Council of Europe in their ongoing inquiries over this case;
       (6) calls on the Secretary of State and the Secretary of 
     the Treasury to use their authority under the Sergei 
     Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (title IV of Public 
     Law 112-208) and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights 
     Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 
     114-328) to designate individuals whom they determine to have 
     been involved in the assassination of Boris Nemtsov as 
     perpetrators, organizers, or masterminds, on the list of 
     specially designated nationals and blocked persons maintained 
     by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of 
     the Treasury, freezing their assets and making them 
     ineligible to receive United States visas; and

[[Page S1544]]

       (7) calls on the Secretary of State, in consultation with 
     the Director of National Intelligence, to prepare and submit 
     to Congress a report detailing the circumstances of the 
     February 27, 2015, assassination of Boris Nemtsov, including 
     the list of individuals whom they determine to have been 
     involved in the assassination as perpetrators, organizers, or 
     masterminds, and identifying what measures, if any, have been 
     taken by the Government of the Russian Federation to 
     investigate this crime and bring its perpetrators, 
     organizers, and masterminds to justice, and evaluating the 
     effectiveness of such measures.

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