[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 194 (Monday, November 27, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5599-S5600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 472--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 90TH 
    ANNIVERSARY OF THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932-1933, KNOWN AS THE 
  HOLODOMOR, SHOULD SERVE AS A REMINDER OF REPRESSIVE SOVIET POLICIES 
  AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE, AND THAT VLADIMIR PUTIN'S BRUTAL AND 
 UNPROVOKED WAR AGAINST UKRAINE ONCE AGAIN THREATENS THE EXISTENCE OF 
 THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE, WHILE EXACERBATING THE PROBLEMS OF GLOBAL HUNGER

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

                              S. Res. 472

       Whereas Russia's illegal, premeditated, unprovoked, and 
     brutal war against Ukraine--
       (1) violates international law;
       (2) undermines the principles of sovereignty and 
     territorial integrity; and
       (3) includes extensive, systematic, and flagrant atrocities 
     against the people of Ukraine;
       Whereas Vladimir Putin's repeated public rejections of a 
     separate Ukrainian identity have made the war an existential 
     fight for the Ukrainian Government and people;
       Whereas Moscow's continuing war against Ukraine has 
     weaponized food through intentional and concerted attacks on 
     the Ukrainian agricultural sector and energy grid, resulting 
     in elevated global grain prices that disproportionately 
     impact low- and middle-income countries in the Middle East, 
     North Africa, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, which are 
     dependent on imported Ukrainian wheat;
       Whereas Moscow's weaponization of hunger has further 
     exacerbated an unprecedented global food crisis, with more 
     than 345,000,000 people around the world facing acute levels 
     of food insecurity in 2023;
       Whereas on July 17, 2023, Russia unilaterally withdrew from 
     the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which since its inception in 
     July 2022 resulted in the export of more than 32,000,000 
     metric tons of Ukrainian grain, including grain exports to 
     developing countries vulnerable to food insecurity;
       Whereas Putin's attitude towards, and actions in, Ukraine 
     evoke comparisons with the totalitarian government of the 
     former Soviet Union, which was responsible for the Ukrainian 
     Famine of 1932-1933;
       Whereas Ukraine is a major global exporter of agricultural 
     products that are critical to global food supplies, including 
     wheat, corn, barley, and sunflower;
       Whereas Russia's illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory, 
     including the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian Black Sea 
     port of Mariupol, its assault on Kherson and Odessa, its use 
     of naval mines in the Black Sea and land mines in Ukraine's 
     agricultural areas, sustained attacks against Ukraine's 
     energy grid, and the destruction of Ukrainian export 
     terminals and transportation infrastructure have severely 
     constrained Ukraine's ability to export grain;
       Whereas, Senate Resolution 435, which was passed by the 
     Senate on October 3, 2018, commemorated the 85th anniversary 
     of the Holodomor and recognized the Soviet Union's role in 
     perpetrating this genocide against the Ukrainian people;
       Whereas 2022-2023 marks the 90th anniversary of the 
     Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, which is also known as the 
     Holodomor;
       Whereas in 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainian people 
     perished at the will of the totalitarian Stalinist Government 
     of the Soviet Union, which perpetrated a premeditated famine 
     in Ukraine in an effort to break the nation's resistance to 
     collectivization and communist occupation;
       Whereas the Government of the Soviet Union deliberately 
     confiscated grain harvests and starved millions of Ukrainian 
     men, women, and children by a policy of forced 
     collectivization that sought to destroy the nationally 
     conscious movement for independence;
       Whereas Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the borders 
     of Ukraine sealed to prevent anyone from escaping the manmade 
     starvation, and to prevent the delivery of any international 
     food aid that would provide relief to the starving;

[[Page S5600]]

       Whereas numerous scholars worldwide have worked to uncover 
     the scale of the famine, including Canadian wheat expert 
     Andrew Cairns who visited Ukraine in 1932, and was told that 
     there was no grain ``because the government had collected so 
     much grain and exported it to England and Italy'', while 
     Joseph Stalin simultaneously denied food aid to the people of 
     Ukraine;
       Whereas nearly 25 percent of Ukraine's rural population 
     perished or were forced into exile due to the induced 
     starvation and the entire nation suffered from the 
     consequences of the prolonged famine;
       Whereas noted correspondents of the time were refuted for 
     their courage in depicting and reporting on the forced famine 
     in Ukraine, including Gareth Jones, William Henry Chamberlin, 
     and Malcolm Muggeridge, who wrote ``[The peasants] will tell 
     you that many have already died of famine, and that many are 
     dying every day; that thousands have been shot by the 
     Government and hundreds of thousands exiled. . .'';
       Whereas title V of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, 
     State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 
     of 1986 (Public Law 99-180; 99 Stat. 1157), which was enacted 
     on December 13, 1985, established the Commission on the 
     Ukraine Famine to ``conduct a study of the Ukrainian Famine 
     of 1932-1933 in order to expand the world's knowledge of the 
     famine and provide the American public with a better 
     understanding of the Soviet system by revealing the Soviet 
     role'' in it;
       Whereas, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, archival 
     documents became available that confirmed the deliberate and 
     premeditated deadly nature of the famine and that exposed the 
     atrocities committed by the Soviet government against the 
     Ukrainian people;
       Whereas Raphael Lemkin, who devoted his life to the 
     development of legal concepts and norms for containing mass 
     atrocities and whose tireless advocacy swayed the United 
     Nations in 1948 to adopt the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, authored an essay in 
     1953 entitled ``Soviet Genocide in the Ukraine'', which 
     highlighted the ``classic example of Soviet genocide'' 
     characterizing it ``not simply a case of mass murder. It is a 
     case of genocide, of destruction, not of individuals only, 
     but of a culture and a nation'';
       Whereas Ukraine's law Number 376-V, ``Law of Ukraine on the 
     Starvation in Ukraine of 1932-1933'', which was enacted on 
     November 28, 2006, gave official recognition to the Holodomor 
     as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people;
       Whereas on October 13, 2006, President George W. Bush 
     signed into law Public Law 109-340, which authorized the 
     Government of Ukraine ``to establish a memorial on Federal 
     land in the District of Columbia to honor the victims of the 
     Ukrainian famine-genocide of 1932-1933'', and the Holodomor 
     Memorial was officially dedicated in November 2015;
       Whereas the Government of Ukraine and the Ukrainian 
     communities in the United States and worldwide continue their 
     efforts to secure greater international awareness and 
     understanding of the 1932-1933 tragedy; and
       Whereas victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 were 
     commemorated by Ukrainian communities around the globe and in 
     Ukraine throughout November 2022: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns Vladimir Putin's brutal and unprovoked war in 
     Ukraine and his repeated public rejections of the existence 
     of a Ukrainian people and a sovereign Ukrainian state;
       (2) condemns Vladimir Putin's weaponization of hunger, 
     which has increased global food prices and food insecurity in 
     the world;
       (3) calls upon Vladimir Putin and the Russian Armed 
     Forces--
       (A) to immediately cease their attacks on Ukrainian 
     civilians;
       (B) to withdraw all troops from Ukraine; and
       (C) to fully respect Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, 
     and territorial integrity;
       (4) solemnly remembers the 90th anniversary of the 
     Holodomor of 1932-1933, and extends its deepest sympathies to 
     the victims, survivors, and families of this tragedy;
       (5) condemns the systematic violations of human rights, 
     including the freedom of self-determination and freedom of 
     speech of the Ukrainian people by the Government of the 
     Soviet Union;
       (6) recognizes 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'';
       (7) encourages dissemination of information regarding the 
     Holodomor of 1932-1933 in order to expand the world's 
     knowledge of this manmade tragedy; and
       (8) supports the continuing efforts of the people of 
     Ukraine to defend themselves against Russian aggression, to 
     work toward ensuring democratic principles, a free economy, 
     and full respect for human rights in order to enable Ukraine 
     to achieve its full potential in accordance with the desires 
     of the Ukrainian people and to deepen the partnership between 
     Ukraine, the United States, and all democratic nations.

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