[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 74 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2340-S2341]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
        King, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Peters, Mr. Tillis, Mr. 
        Scott of Florida, Mrs. Blackburn, Ms. Collins, Mr. Boozman, and 
        Mrs. Shaheen):
  S. 4134. A bill to direct the President to submit to Congress a 
report on United States Government efforts to collect, analyze, and 
preserve evidence and information related to war crimes and other 
atrocities committed during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine 
since February 24, 2022, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print my bill 
for introduction in the Congressional Record. The bill directs the 
President to submit to Congress a report on U.S. Government efforts to 
collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and information related to war 
crimes and other atrocities committed during the Russian invasion of 
Ukraine since February 24, 2022.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 4134

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Ukraine Invasion War Crimes 
     Deterrence and Accountability Act''.

     SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) in its premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified, and 
     unlawful full-scale invasion of Ukraine that commenced on 
     February 24, 2022, the military of the Government of the 
     Russian Federation under the direction of President Vladimir 
     Putin has committed war crimes that include--
       (A) the deliberate targeting of civilians and injuring or 
     killing of noncombatants;
       (B) the deliberate targeting and attacking of hospitals, 
     schools, and other non-military buildings dedicated to 
     religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, such as the 
     bombing of a theater in Mariupol that served as a shelter for 
     noncombatants and had the word ``children'' written clearly 
     in the Russian language outside;
       (C) the indiscriminate bombardment of undefended dwellings 
     and buildings;
       (D) the wanton destruction of property not justified by 
     military necessity;
       (E) unlawful civilian deportations;
       (F) the taking of hostages; and
       (G) rape, or sexual assault or abuse;
       (2) the use of chemical weapons by the Government of the 
     Russian Federation in Ukraine would constitute a war crime, 
     and engaging in any military preparations to use chemical 
     weapons or to develop, produce, stockpile, or retain chemical 
     weapons is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention, to 
     which the Russian Federation is a signatory;
       (3) Vladimir Putin has a long record of committing acts of 
     aggression, systematic abuses of human rights, and acts that 
     constitute war crimes or other atrocities both at home and 
     abroad, and the brutality and scale of these actions, 
     including in the Russian Federation republic of Chechnya, 
     Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine, demonstrate the extent to which 
     his regime is willing to flout international norms and values 
     in the pursuit of its objectives;
       (4) Vladimir Putin has previously sanctioned the use of 
     chemical weapons at home and abroad, including in the 
     poisonings of Russian spy turned double agent Sergei Skripal 
     and his daughter Yulia and leading Russian opposition figure 
     Aleksey Navalny, and aided and abetted the use of chemical 
     weapons by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria; and
       (5) in 2014, the Government of the Russian Federation 
     initiated its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine 
     which resulted in its illegal occupation of Crimea, the 
     unrecognized declaration of independence by the so-called 
     ``Donetsk People's Republic'' and ``Luhansk People's 
     Republic'' by Russia-backed proxies, and numerous human 
     rights violations and deaths of civilians in Ukraine.

     SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

       It is the policy of the United States--
       (1) to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and 
     information related to war crimes and other atrocities 
     committed during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine 
     that began on February 24, 2022, for use in appropriate 
     domestic, foreign, and international courts and tribunals 
     prosecuting those responsible for such crimes;
       (2) to help deter the commission of war crimes and other 
     atrocities in Ukraine by publicizing to the maximum possible 
     extent, including among Russian and other foreign military 
     commanders and troops in Ukraine, efforts to identify and 
     prosecute those responsible for the commission of war crimes 
     during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that began 
     on February 24, 2022; and
       (3) to continue efforts to identify, deter, and pursue 
     accountability for war crimes and other atrocities committed 
     around the world and by other perpetrators, and to leverage 
     international cooperation and best practices in this regard 
     with respect to the current situation in Ukraine.

     SEC. 4. REPORT ON UNITED STATES EFFORTS.

       Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, and consistent with

[[Page S2341]]

     the protection of intelligence sources and methods, the 
     President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
     committees a report, which may include a classified annex, 
     describing in detail the following:
       (1) United States Government efforts to collect, analyze, 
     and preserve evidence and information related to war crimes 
     and other atrocities committed during the full-scale Russian 
     invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022, including a 
     description of--
       (A) the respective roles of various agencies, departments, 
     and offices, and the interagency mechanism established for 
     the coordination of such efforts;
       (B) the types of information and evidence that are being 
     collected, analyzed, and preserved to help identify those 
     responsible for the commission of war crimes or other 
     atrocities during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine 
     in 2022; and
       (C) steps taken to coordinate with, and support the work 
     of, allies, partners, international institutions and 
     organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in such 
     efforts.
       (2) Media, public diplomacy, and information operations to 
     make Russian military commanders, troops, political leaders 
     and the Russian people aware of efforts to identify and 
     prosecute those responsible for the commission of war crimes 
     or other atrocities during the full-scale Russian invasion of 
     Ukraine in 2022, and of the types of acts that may be 
     prosecutable.
       (3) The process for a domestic, foreign, or international 
     court or tribunal to request and obtain from the United 
     States Government information related to war crimes or other 
     atrocities committed during the full-scale Russian invasion 
     of Ukraine in 2022.

     SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
     ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
       (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 
     the Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of 
     the Senate; and
       (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the 
     Judiciary, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 
     of the House of Representatives.
       (2) Atrocities.--The term ``atrocities'' has the meaning 
     given that term in section 6(2) of the Elie Wiesel Genocide 
     and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-441; 22 
     U.S.C. 2656 note).
       (3) War crime.--The term ``war crime'' has the meaning 
     given that term in section 2441(c) of title 18, United States 
     Code.

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