[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 59 (Monday, April 8, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2649-S2650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 629--CONDEMNING THE ARBITRARY ARREST OF UNITED STATES 
 CITIZENS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND CALLING FOR 
        THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF SUCH CITIZENS

  Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Van Hollen, 
Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Casey, Mr. Coons, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. King, Mrs. 
Murray, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. 
Shaheen, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Booker, Mr. Welch, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Wyden, 
and Ms. Warren) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 629

       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     arbitrarily and cruelly arrested United States citizens under 
     false pretenses in order to extract bargaining leverage on 
     unrelated matters;
       Whereas the Russian Federation is a permanent member of the 
     United Nations Security Council;
       Whereas, on March 29, 2023, the Government of the Russian 
     Federation arrested United States citizen and accredited Wall 
     Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on fraudulent 
     charges of espionage for his reporting on the Russian 
     economy;
       Whereas Gershkovich has spent more than one year in 
     pretrial detention in the notorious Lefortovo prison in 
     Moscow, including in isolation with limited access to medical 
     care and attorneys;
       Whereas, even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union never 
     held a journalist from the United States for similar long-
     term detention, with the closest parallel being the 1986 
     arrest and 13-day detainment of U.S. News and World Report 
     journalist Nicholas Daniloff;
       Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10, 
     2023, that Gershkovich has been wrongfully detained by the 
     Government of the Russian Federation;
       Whereas, on December 28, 2018, the Government of the 
     Russian Federation arrested United States citizen Paul Whelan 
     and later convicted him on June 15, 2020, on fraudulent 
     espionage charges;
       Whereas Whelan has spent nearly four years in various high-
     security jails and labor camps in the Russian Federation, 
     while enduring solitary confinement, forced labor, and the 
     denial of medical care;
       Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10, 
     2023, that Whelan has been wrongfully detained by the 
     Government of the Russian Federation;
       Whereas United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation 
     Lynne Tracy publicly stated on March 26, 2024, following Evan 
     Gershkovich's court hearing, ``Evan's case is not about 
     evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using 
     American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the 
     Kremlin is doing in the case of Paul Whelan'';
       Whereas, on June 2, 2023, the Government of the Russian 
     Federation arrested United States citizen and Radio Free 
     Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on 
     politically motivated charges of working as a foreign agent 
     and ``spreading falsehoods about the Russian military,'' and 
     who now faces a prison sentence up to 15 years;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     repeatedly denied consular access, basic medical care, and 
     ordered Kurmasheva to remain in pre-trial detention in prison 
     conditions Kurmasheva described as ``inhumane'';
       Whereas, on August 14, 2021, the Government of the Russian 
     Federation arrested United States citizen and international 
     schoolteacher Marc Fogel for possession of medical marijuana 
     prescribed by his physician, then sentenced him on June 16, 
     2022, to an excessive 14-year sentence in a Russian labor 
     camp;
       Whereas lawyers from the Russian Federation informed 
     Fogel's family that the typical sentence for the offense is 
     five years of probation, and in 2019, the same Russian court 
     sentenced a Russian defendant to eight years in prison for 
     the possession of 1,500 grams of various narcotics;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation sentenced 
     Fogel to punishment vastly disproportionate to the severity 
     of his nonviolent crime, wildly dissimilar to the typical 
     punishments for comparable offenses in the Russian 
     Federation, and clearly motivated by ongoing political 
     tensions between the Russian Federation and the United 
     States;
       Whereas, on January 28, 2024, the Government of the Russian 
     Federation arrested United States citizen and amateur 
     ballerina Ksenia Khavana on fraudulent charges of high 
     treason during a visit to the Russian Federation after she 
     donated $50 to a charity supporting humanitarian aid for 
     Ukraine;
       Whereas Khavana has been held in a high-security prison 
     with no access to hot water or heat during winter, and faces 
     a 20-year sentence with limited means of legal defense;
       Whereas, on February 17, 2022, the Government of the 
     Russian Federation arrested Brittney Griner on trumped-up 
     charges, kept her in detention for approximately ten months, 
     and eventually released her on December 8, 2022, in exchange 
     for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout;
       Whereas, on April 11, 2022, the Government of the Russian 
     Federation arrested United States permanent resident Vladimir 
     Kara-Murza for criticizing renewed invasion of Ukraine by the 
     Russian Federation and resulting ongoing war and the 
     criminality of the Government of the Russian Federation, and 
     sentenced Kara-Murza on April 17, 2023, to a 25-year sentence 
     for ``high treason'';
       Whereas human rights groups in the Russian Federation 
     estimate that the Government of the Russian Federation holds 
     nearly 20,000 political prisoners in Russian jails, 
     including, until his February 2024 death in a Siberian gulag, 
     opposition leader Alexei Navalny;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     kidnapped more than 19,000 Ukrainian children and abducted 
     them to the Russian Federation, resulting in President 
     Vladimir Putin being indicted by the International Criminal 
     Court for war crimes;

[[Page S2650]]

       Whereas, under Vladimir Putin, Russian courts are neither 
     independent nor fair in the administration of justice and are 
     entirely beholden to the political whims of Putin;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     refused to provide neither minimal due process nor fair 
     independent legal proceedings for United States citizens 
     Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana;
       Whereas the Department of State has called for the release 
     of Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana;
       Whereas the arrest and continued detention of Gershkovich, 
     Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana amount to hostage 
     taking by the Government of the Russian Federation: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns--
       (A) the arbitrary arrest and continued detention of United 
     States citizens Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu 
     Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, and Ksenia Khavana, and United States 
     permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza by the Government of 
     the Russian Federation;
       (B) the hostage taking of United States citizens by a 
     Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council; and
       (C) the ongoing persecution, arrest, and political 
     imprisonment of ordinary Russian citizens and human rights 
     defenders who call for the end of the war in Ukraine and 
     demand freedom in the Russian Federation;
       (2) urges the Department of State to determine that Alsu 
     Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, Ksenia Khavana, and Vladimir Kara-
     Murza have been wrongfully detained by the Government of the 
     Russian Federation; and
       (3) calls on the immediate and unconditional release of 
     United States citizens Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu 
     Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, and Ksenia Khavana, and United States 
     permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza.

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I want to address what can only be 
called the hostage-taking of Americans by the government of Vladimir 
Putin of Russia. The list is troubling and growing.
  This month marks the 1-year anniversary of Wall Street Journal 
reporter Evan Gershkovich's dubious arrest in Russia. He has spent more 
than a year in pretrial detention in a notorious Moscow prison, 
including in isolation, with limited medical attention. Even during the 
height of the Cold War, the Soviet police state didn't arrest and hold 
American journalists in such a brazen and transparently crude manner. 
The longest was a U.S. News & World Report reporter, who was released 
after 13 days.
  But it is not just Evan whom Vladimir Putin is holding hostage. In 
2018, Russia arrested American citizen Paul Whelan and sentenced him to 
16 years in prison on fraudulent espionage charges. He has spent 4 
years in various Russian high-security jails and labor camps, enduring 
solitary confinement and forced labor.
  Last year, Russia arrested American citizen and Radio Free Europe 
journalist Alsu Kurmasheva for being a foreign agent. She is facing a 
5-year sentence. While in pretrial detention, her conditions are being 
described as ``inhumane.''
  In August 2021, Russia arrested American citizen and international 
schoolteacher Marc Fogel for possessing medical marijuana prescribed by 
his physician. Then they sentenced him to a ludicrous 14-year sentence 
in Russian labor camps.
  Earlier this year, Russia arrested American citizen Ksenia Khavana on 
nonsense charges of high treason after she donated--get this--$50 to a 
charity supporting humanitarian aid for Ukraine. For that, she is 
facing a 20-year sentence in prison.
  Two years ago, Russia also arrested U.S. legal permanent resident 
Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentencing him to 25 years for criticizing Putin's 
disastrous war in Ukraine.
  These are some of the photographs of the individuals whom I have just 
described.
  Mr. Kara-Murza was a visitor in my office. I know him personally. I 
met with him a month before his arrest. And, despite two murder 
attempts by poisoning, he was determined to go back to Russia to fight 
for democracy. Evgenia, his wife, is here this week for a bipartisan 
event on the anniversary of his arrest.
  And let us not forget Brittney Griner, whose arrest in 2022 on 
trumped-up charges was cynically used to secure the release of 
notorious Russian arms merchant Viktor Bout.
  It is outrageous that Russia, a permanent member of the United 
Nations Security Council, is holding hostage American citizens. It is 
the act of a desperate rogue regime, similar to the criminal actions of 
countries like Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.
  Today, I am introducing a resolution condemning Russia's hostage-
taking, calling for the immediate release of these hostages and urging 
the administration to consider ``wrongfully detained'' status.
  And, to those detained and their families, I want you to know you are 
not forgotten. We will continue to advocate for your release.

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