[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 32 (Thursday, February 16, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 72--RECOGNIZING RUSSIAN ACTIONS IN UKRAINE AS A 
                                GENOCIDE

  Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. 
Crapo, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Scott of Florida, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Capito, Mr. 
Manchin, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Graham, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. 
Rubio, and Mr. Young) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 72

       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 intent of the Russian Federation and those 
     acting on its behalf in favor of those heinous crimes against 
     humanity has been demonstrated through frequent 
     pronouncements and other forms of official communication 
     denying Ukrainian nationhood, 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 and 
     rejection of the ``ethnic component'' 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'';
       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 
     future acts of genocide; and
       Whereas the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability 
     Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) authorizes the President to 
     impose economic sanctions on, and deny entry into the United 
     States to, foreign individuals identified as engaging in 
     gross violations of internationally recognized human rights: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns those acting on behalf of 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 acts of Russian genocide against the 
     Ukrainian people;
       (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; and
       (4) urges the President to use the authorities under the 
     Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 
     10101 et seq.) to impose economic sanctions on those 
     responsible for, or complicit in, genocide in Ukraine by the 
     Russian Federation and those acting on its behalf.

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