[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3546-S3547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 713--RECOGNIZING RUSSIAN ACTIONS IN UKRAINE AS A 
                                GENOCIDE

  Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Wicker, Mrs. 
Shaheen, Mr. Portman, and Mr. Graham) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 713

       Whereas the Russian Federation's illegal, premeditated, 
     unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine includes 
     extensive, systematic, and flagrant atrocities against the 
     people of Ukraine;
       Whereas article II of the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (in this preamble 
     referred to as the ``Genocide Convention''), adopted and 
     opened for signature in 1948 and entered into force in 1951, 
     defines genocide as ``any of the following acts committed 
     with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, 
     ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing 
     members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental 
     harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on 
     the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its 
     physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing 
     measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) 
     Forcibly transferring children of the group to another 
     group'';
       Whereas, on October 3, 2018, the Senate unanimously agreed 
     to Senate Resolution 435, 115th Congress, which commemorated 
     the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor and ``recognize[d] the 
     findings of the Commission on the Ukraine Famine as submitted 
     to Congress on April 22, 1988, including that `Joseph Stalin 
     and those around him committed genocide against the 
     Ukrainians in 1932-1933' '';
       Whereas substantial and significant evidence documents 
     widespread, systematic actions against the Ukrainian people 
     committed by Russian forces under the direction of political 
     leadership of the Russian Federation that meet one or more of 
     the criteria under article II of the Genocide Convention, 
     including--
       (1) killing members of the Ukrainian people in mass 
     atrocities through deliberate and regularized murders of 
     fleeing civilians and civilians in passing as well as 
     purposeful targeting of homes, schools, hospitals, shelters, 
     and other residential and civilian areas;
       (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the 
     Ukrainian people by launching indiscriminate attacks against 
     civilians and civilian areas, conducting willful strikes on 
     humanitarian evacuation corridors, and employing widespread 
     and systematic sexual violence against Ukrainian civilians, 
     including women, children, and men;
       (3) deliberately inflicting upon the Ukrainian people 
     conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical 
     destruction in whole or in part, including displacement due 
     to annihilated villages, towns, and cities left devoid of 
     food, water, shelter, electricity, and other basic 
     necessities, starvation caused by the destruction of 
     farmlands and agricultural equipment, the placing of Russian 
     landmines across thousands of acres of useable fields, and 
     blocking the delivery of humanitarian food aid;
       (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births among the 
     Ukrainian people, demonstrated by the Russian military's 
     expansive and direct targeting of maternity hospitals and 
     other medical facilities and systematic attacks against 
     residential and civilian areas as well as humanitarian 
     corridors intended to deprive Ukrainians of safe havens 
     within their own country and the material conditions 
     conducive to childrearing; and
       (5) forcibly mass transferring millions of Ukrainian 
     civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom are children, to the 
     Russian Federation or territories controlled by the Russian 
     Federation;
       Whereas the state-level intent of the Russian Federation in 
     favor of those heinous crimes against humanity has been 
     demonstrated through frequent pronouncements and other forms 
     of official communication denying Ukrainian nationhood and 
     sovereignty, including President Putin's ahistorical claims 
     that Ukraine is part of a ``single whole'' Russian nation 
     with ``no historical basis'' for being an independent 
     country;
       Whereas some Russian soldiers and brigades accused of 
     committing war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine, and elsewhere were 
     rewarded with medals by President Putin;
       Whereas the Russian state-owned media outlet RIA Novosti 
     published the article ``What Should Russia do with Ukraine'', 
     which outlines ``de-Nazification'' as meaning ``de-
     Ukrainianization'' or the destruction of Ukraine;
       Whereas article I of the Genocide Convention confirms 
     ``that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in 
     time of war, is a crime under international law which [the 
     Contracting Parties] undertake to prevent and to punish''; 
     and
       Whereas although additional documentation and analysis of 
     atrocities committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine may 
     be needed to punish those responsible, the substantial and 
     significant documentation already undertaken, combined with 
     statements showing intent, compel urgent action to prevent 
     further acts of genocide: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the Russian Federation for committing acts of 
     genocide against the Ukrainian people;
       (2) calls on the United States, in cooperation with allies 
     in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European 
     Union, to undertake measures to support the Government of 
     Ukraine to prevent further acts of Russian genocide against 
     the Ukrainian people; and
       (3) supports tribunals and international criminal 
     investigations to hold Russian political leaders and military 
     personnel to account for a war of aggression, war crimes, 
     crimes against humanity, and genocide.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to draw the attention of the 
Senate and the American people to a dark anniversary on the near 
horizon.
  On July 24, the world will have seen 5 full months of the brutal, 
unjustified, and utterly senseless war Russia's dictator Vladimir Putin 
has unleashed on Ukraine, a peace-loving democracy that has never 
threatened Russia or any of its other neighbors.
  It will be 150 days of Mr. Putin and his army's killing and raping 
Ukrainian women and children; destroying homes, hospitals, museums, 
schools, and churches; displacing almost 13 million people; and 
unleashing chaos and havoc on the world. The blockage of the southern 
ports of Ukraine has interrupted the vital supply of Ukrainian food 
supplies to a hungry world, wreaking pain and havoc on societies across 
the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. An existing global food 
security crisis has now been severely worsened by Russia's violent 
assault, as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee examined earlier 
today in a hearing where USAID Administrator Samantha Power and our 
permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda 
Thomas-Greenfield, testified. They spoke about the U.S. role in trying 
to avert this additional global tragedy resulting from Russia's 
aggression and the immensity of the task ahead.
  Who could forget the horrors of Bucha and Irpin, the shell-shocked 
look in the eyes of Ukrainian children who will forever carry the 
burdens of unimaginable trauma or the Ukrainian women who had to be 
carried from a maternity ward after the Russians struck their hospital 
with a cruise missile.
  This is an everyday reality now for Ukrainians--unspeakable, cruel 
military assaults. Yet they demonstrate the indomitable will to fight 
for their land and freedom; they do not give up; and they are truly an 
inspiration for the rest of the world.
  When Mr. Putin started this attack, he assumed Russia would conquer 
Ukraine and seize its capital in 3 days. Yet it is now day almost 150, 
and Russia has suffered heavy losses and retreated from Kyiv. While 
several towns in the south of the country have been flattened and then 
occupied, in most of the country, the Russian invaders have barely 
advanced from their initial positions.
  In the towns and cities the Russians occupy, they have met heavy 
resistance from Ukrainian guerillas and regular citizens who do not 
want to be part of Putin's evil empire. Despite efforts to indoctrinate 
Ukrainian children in occupied areas with a counterfactual narrative of 
the contemporary history, Russian speakers are learning Ukrainian, and 
what have been generally positive relations with the people of Ukraine 
and Russia before this invasion have now been completely destroyed.
  Independent analysts have described the ongoing violence as a 
genocide in

[[Page S3547]]

Ukraine, and there is a growing body of evidence that it is, sadly, 
true. A May of 2022 study conducted by the New Lines Institute and the 
Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights concluded that ``Russia bears 
State responsibility for breaches of Article II and Article III of the 
Genocide Convention.''
  The report pointed to a pattern of Russian forces targeting the 
Ukrainian civilians, with evidence of mass executions and torture of 
civilians in Russian-occupied regions. The report included evidence of 
deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuation routes, and humanitarian 
corridors, as well as reports of sexual violence and forcible 
deportation of Ukrainians to Russia.
  On July 14, the United States and 44 other nations signed an 
International Criminal Court declaration to investigate over 20,000 
reports--20,000 reports--of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine 
since the beginning of the war.
  Make no mistake about it, Vladimir Putin has caused the suffering and 
pain in pursuit of his ambition to rebuild the Russian Empire. He has 
said it to himself on multiple occasions. He is hell-bent on destroying 
the post-World War II world order that has brought prosperity and peace 
to our allies in Europe--and to Russia to this point, too.
  Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Ukrainians are 
fighting not just for their land and freedom, which, as Americans, we 
should cherish and appreciate, but also for the very core of the global 
order that, if destroyed, will marginalize our allies and threaten the 
United States.
  With this in mind, we must remember that supporting Ukraine is not 
charity. It is in our core national security interest to provide the 
Ukrainians with the arms, financing, and moral support to defeat the 
tyrant of Russia. If Ukraine falls, it will lead to the subjugation of 
Ukrainian people, destruction of its culture and language, and bring a 
hostile and expansionistic Russian Empire right to the borders of our 
NATO allies that we are committed to protect with our troops and 
weapons. Ukraine is the firewall that the world cannot afford to see 
breached.
  So, yes, it is a moral imperative for us to support Ukrainians in 
this just war, but it is also a core national security necessity for us 
to do this. Ukraine is fighting this war on multiple fronts: on land 
and at sea and in the air. The security of the Black Sea region is a 
critical aspect of this war that has not received enough attention. As 
recent reporting suggests, the ability of the Ukrainians' vessels to 
navigate the Black Sea is important for the country but also for 
regional stability and global food security. That is where Ukraine 
exports most of its agricultural products. Ukraine is a major grain 
exporter, and the Russians have been blocking these vessels from 
departing Ukrainian ports. This exposes some of the world's most 
vulnerable people to food scarcity, malnutrition, and worsening 
poverty--and in some cases leading to unnecessary and preventable 
deaths. Truly, the ugliness and depravation of the Putin regime has no 
limit.
  It is in this context the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation 
in Europe that I chair conducted a field hearing on Black Sea security 
in Constanta, Romania, on July 1. I want to thank my friend Senator 
Wicker for chairing that hearing. The Commission brought together key 
decisionmakers from the Black Sea states to discuss how best to address 
Russia's illegal naval blockade of Ukrainian ports.
  Subsequently, Senator Wicker and I joined Senators Shaheen and Romney 
in introducing the Black Sea Security Act, S. 4509. This bill would 
declare that it is the policy of the United States ``to actively deter 
the threat of further Russian escalation in the Black Sea region and 
defend freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to prevent the spread of 
further armed conflict in Europe.''
  The bill further requires that the National Security Council shall 
deliver to Congress an interagency report that outlines current policy 
options toward Black Sea countries and the border region. The report 
would include a breakdown of funding to support these efforts, 
including military assistance; economic assistance, including support 
for food security; countering Russia's disinformation and propaganda; 
energy diversification; increasing access to global capital markets; a 
plan for helping U.S. allies in the region to accelerate their 
transitions from legacy Russian military equipment and promote NATO 
interoperability; and strengthening the rule of law and anticorruption 
efforts.
  I call on my colleagues to support this important piece of 
legislation.
  Tragically, this war is turning into a marathon, and it is incumbent 
upon us not to lose our focus and determination in supporting our 
Ukrainian partners. I want to urge my colleagues in this Chamber and 
all my fellow Americans to stay the course and continue to support 
Ukraine for as long as it takes.
  My final point today is that we should say the name of what Russia is 
doing, the atrocities they are committing. Russia is committing 
genocide in Ukraine. Russia is trying to eviscerate not just the people 
and the buildings of Ukraine; they are trying to eliminate the 
Ukrainian language, Ukrainian history, and Ukrainian culture. That is 
genocide.
  That is why I am joining Senator Risch, along with Senators Graham, 
Blumenthal, Shaheen, and Portman in introducing a resolution that would 
condemn the Russian Federation for committing acts of genocide against 
the Ukrainian people; call on the United States, in cooperation with 
allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European 
Union, to undertake measures to support the Government of Ukraine to 
prevent further acts of Russian genocide against the Ukrainian people; 
and support tribunals and international criminal investigations to hold 
Russian political leaders and military personnel to account for a war 
of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
  We must stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians to lighten 
their load and hasten their victory. We must be prepared for the 
reconstruction of Ukraine that will follow the conclusion of this war. 
And, yes, we must pursue accountability for those responsible for the 
genocide underway in Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

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