[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 40 (Monday, March 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S1019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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    SENATE RESOLUTION 536--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT 
               PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN IS A WAR CRIMINAL

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

                              S. Res. 536

       Whereas, under international law, a war crime is a serious 
     violation of the laws or customs of war as defined by 
     international customary law and international treaties;
       Whereas war crimes also include initiating a war of 
     aggression as prosecuted at the Nuremberg trials following 
     World War II and more recently defined in the 2010 amendments 
     to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
       Whereas a war criminal is a person who has planned, 
     ordered, or carried out an act during the conduct of a war 
     that violates accepted international rules of war; and
       Whereas Articles 26 and 27 of the Vienna Convention on the 
     Law of Treaties, done at Vienna May 23, 1969, state, ``Every 
     treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be 
     performed by them in good faith. . . . A party may not invoke 
     the provisions of its internal law as justification for its 
     failure to perform a treaty.'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation has 
     committed war crimes as defined by the United Nations, the 
     International Criminal Court, and other international bodies 
     by--
       (A) initiating an unprovoked war;
       (B) violating the sovereignty of Ukraine repeatedly;
       (C) targeting civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, 
     schools, and apartment buildings, militarily;
       (D) targeting government facilities unrelated to legitimate 
     military objectives; and
       (E) attempting to overthrow the democratically elected 
     government led by President Volodymyr Zelensky; and
       (2) since President Vladimir Putin is the Commander in 
     Chief (equivalent) of the Armed Forces of the Russian 
     Federation and as such was involved in the planning of the 
     invasion of Ukraine, he is culpable of launching a war of 
     aggression and the systematic commission of war crimes during 
     that war by Russian troops.

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