[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S3507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 SENATE RESOLUTION 239--RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH 
                   OF DR. ANDREI DMITRIEVICH SAKHAROV

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

                              S. Res. 239

       Whereas 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of 
     Dr. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (referred to in this preamble 
     as ``Dr. Sakharov''), who was born on May 21, 1921;
       Whereas, although the work of Dr. Sakharov as a nuclear 
     physicist earned him international respect and renown, his 
     great genius and gift to history was to give voice to a 
     global yearning for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
       Whereas, in 1968, in an act of great courage and 
     conscience, Dr. Sakharov published his treatise, ``Thoughts 
     On Progress, Peaceful Coexistence, And Intellectual 
     Freedom'', in which he--
       (1) offered a comprehensive vision for peace and progress;
       (2) broke with the Soviet establishment over human rights; 
     and
       (3) opened himself up to years of official and state-
     sponsored retaliation;
       Whereas, in 1970, Dr. Sakharov helped found the Committee 
     on Human Rights in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 
     (referred to in this preamble as the ``USSR''), which 
     documented human rights abuses in the USSR;
       Whereas the advocacy of Dr. Sakharov for human rights at 
     home and abroad was grounded in, and emerged from, his work 
     for peace and against nuclear weapons proliferation;
       Whereas, in his 1975 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 
     delivered by his wife Yelena Bonner because the USSR had 
     barred him from attending the ceremony, Dr. Sakharov 
     expressed his ``hope in a final victory of the principles of 
     peace and human rights'' and the ``liberation of all 
     prisoners of conscience everywhere'';
       Whereas the Nobel Peace Prize Committee called Dr. Sakharov 
     ``the spokesman for the conscience of mankind'';
       Whereas the Government of the USSR exiled Dr. Sakharov and 
     Yelena Bonner to the ``closed city'' of Gorky (now Nizhny 
     Novgorod, Russia) in retaliation for the advocacy of Dr. 
     Sakharov against the USSR invasion of Afghanistan, which he 
     later called ``a war of annihilation, a terrible sin'';
       Whereas President Reagan proclaimed May 21, 1983, as 
     National Andrei Sakharov Day, an occasion for the people of 
     the United States to ``reaffirm that, despite attempts at 
     repression, the ideals of peace and freedom will endure and 
     ultimately triumph'';
       Whereas Mikhail Gorbachev released Dr. Sakharov and Yelena 
     Bonner from exile in December 1986, one of the most 
     significant steps in implementing a loosening of political 
     controls under perestroika and glasnost;
       Whereas, in 1989, Dr. Sakharov became a deputy of the 
     Congress of People Deputies, the first legislative body in 
     the USSR that permitted debate, which used the moral 
     authority of Dr. Sakharov to try to democratize Soviet 
     political processes, including an end to 1-party rule;
       Whereas the courageous efforts of Dr. Sakharov against 
     totalitarian repression in the USSR inspired political 
     reforms that swept Europe throughout 1989;
       Whereas, on his death in 1989, the White House noted that 
     the voice of Dr. Sakharov ``was an important dimension in the 
     contemporary changes under way in Soviet society'', changes 
     that would culminate 2 years later in the collapse of the 
     USSR and Soviet Communism; and
       Whereas the work Dr. Sakharov began remains unfinished, 
     which is evidenced by the May 18, 2021, cancellation by 
     authorities of the Moscow Sakharov Center's exhibit marking 
     the centenary of the life of Dr. Sakharov: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the historical significance of the 
     contributions made by Dr. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov 
     (referred to in this resolution as ``Dr. Sakharov'') in the 
     promotion of human dignity and political freedom in his own 
     country and around the world;
       (2) recognizes that the example set by Dr. Sakharov has 
     inspired millions around the world working to promote 
     democratic principles; and
       (3) expresses support for democracy and human rights 
     activists around the world, especially in Russia, who embody 
     the principles and values practiced by Dr. Sakharov.

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