Expressing support for the people of Russia, condemning the Kremlin's assault on human rights and the freedom of expression, and calling for Vladimir Putin to immediately release Alexey Navalny.

IV 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 455 Expressing support for the people of Russia, condemning the Kremlin’s as- sault on human rights and the freedom of expression, and calling for Vladimir Putin to immediately release Alexey Navalny. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2021 Mr. KEATING (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Expressing support for the people of Russia, condemning the Kremlin’s assault on human rights and the freedom of expression, and calling for Vladimir Putin to imme- diately release Alexey Navalny. Whereas the Russian Federation is a party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the principal doc- uments of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); Whereas the Constitution of the Russian Federation states that the Russian Federation is a ‘‘democratic federal law- bound State with a republican form of government’’ in VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 455 IH which ‘‘political diversity and the multi-party system shall be recognized’’; Whereas the Constitution of the Russian Federation states that ‘‘fundamental human rights and freedoms are in- alienable’’, and that everyone shall have the right to ‘‘life’’, ‘‘freedom and personal immunity’’, ‘‘association’’, ‘‘freedom of ideas and speech’’, as well as the right to ‘‘assemble peacefully’’; Whereas the Russian Federation has continuously and in- creasingly violated the fundamental human rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation as well as international law which it is obli- gated to uphold; Whereas Vladimir Putin orchestrated a sham plebiscite in July 2020, in a blatant attempt to maintain power and control until at least 2036, that violated the Constitution of the Russian Federation and OSCE commitments and was widely condemned by international rules-based orga- nizations; Whereas Vladimir Putin’s regime has used the Russian Fed- eration’s so-called ‘‘Foreign Agent Law’’ to eliminate and destroy the free and independent media space as well as target civil society and dissenting voices in the Russian Federation; Whereas the Russian Federation has enacted and the Rus- sian Duma is considering expanding a law criminalizing engagement with so-called ‘‘undesirable foreign organiza- tions’’, the real purpose of which is to deny Russians their basic rights to freedom of association and expres- sion, which includes the ability to see, receive, and impart information, including across borders; VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 455 IH Whereas Vladimir Putin has enriched himself and his net- work of associates at the expense of the Russian taxpayer through embezzlement, criminal schemes, and the misuse of western financial systems; Whereas the Kremlin and its agents have exported corruption and malign influence activities to weaken democratic in- stitutions and foment conflict beyond its borders; Whereas February 26, 2021, marked the seventh year since the Russian Federation’s assault on the sovereign terri- torial integrity of the Republic of Ukraine by invading and illegally occupying the Donbass and Crimea; Whereas domestically, the Russian Federation has continued a sustained crackdown on the freedoms of Russian citi- zens and persecuted over 12,000 political opposition lead- ers, human rights defenders, civil society activists, and journalists; Whereas agents of the Russian Federation have repeatedly and consistently utilized political assassinations and poisonings globally to silence dissent and the opposition, and Russian authorities refused or failed to investigate properly these cases; Whereas February 27, 2021, marked the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov; Whereas the OSCE report on the investigation of the assas- sination of Boris Nemtsov concluded in February 2020 that ‘‘the main issue for addressing impunity is not the capabilities of Russian law enforcement, but political will’’; Whereas leading Russian opposition figure and anti-corrup- tion activist Alexey Navalny has exposed numerous cases VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 455 IH of corruption by Russian politicians and businesses, in- cluding most recently Putin’s corrupt ownership of a lux- urious palace located on the Black Sea; Whereas Alexey Navalny has continually faced political perse- cution, harassment, and threats in response to his polit- ical activities; Whereas Alexey Navalny collapsed during an August 2020 flight from Tomsk to Moscow, requiring him to receive medical assistance first in Omsk and then in Germany where doctors assessed that he had been exposed to the Russian-made chemical weapon called Novichok; Whereas the use of chemical weapons under any circum- stances constitutes a reprehensible crime under inter- national law, in particular under the Chemical Weapons Convention; Whereas the Deputy Chief Physician at Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1 who treated Alexey Navalny after his poi- soning and who was in charge of the department that oversaw Alexey Navalny’s care and recovery, died unex- pectedly on February 4, 2021; Whereas the head of trauma and orthopedics department at Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1, who also treated Navalny, died on March 26, 2021; Whereas the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, whose technical assistance had been requested by the Government of Germany, confirmed that Alexey Navalny was indeed poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok; Whereas a joint investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider, in cooperation with Der Spiegel and CNN, reported on the Russian security services’ involvement in Russia’s VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 455 IH chemical weapons program, which targeted Alexey Navalny; Whereas prominent political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been targeted twice by the Kremlin via similar poisonings conducted by the Russian Federation; Whereas the Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed in the 2021 Annual Threat Assessment Unclas- sified Report that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) organized the assassination of a Chechen sepa- ratist in a Berlin park in 2019 and tried to kill Alexey Navalny with a fourth-generation chemical agent; Whereas following his recovery in Germany, Alexey Navalny returned to the Russian Federation on January 17, 2021, where he was immediately detained for violating his parole from a 2014 conviction that the European Court of Human Rights had determined to be ‘‘arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable’’; Whereas, on February 2, 2021, in hastily convened pro- ceedings that were an affront to due process, Alexey Navalny had his probation revoked and was sentenced to roughly two and a half years in prison for violating his parole while in Germany in a coma recovering from the Kremlin-led assassination attempt; Whereas surrounding Alexey Navalny’s sentencing, hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens across the country braved freezing temperatures to show support for Navalny, constituting the largest protests in decades in which they called President Putin a ‘‘thief’’ and de- manded Navalny’s release; Whereas during these peaceful demonstrations Russian au- thorities used harsh physical punishment and repression VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 455 IH tactics, and arbitrarily detained over 12,000 peaceful pro- testers and journalists; Whereas in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, peaceful protesters have been held in overflowing detention centers, in many cases overnight with little to no access to food, water, proper sanitation, and no COVID–19 precautions; Whereas following Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s live coverage of Alexey Navalny’s return to Russia, his arrest and the subsequent protests, the Putin regime acceler- ated its crackdown on RFE/RL’s Russia operations, lev- ying large fines and court actions against it for refusing to abide by a discriminatory administrative order to prominently label every individual web article, social media post, video and radio broadcast with a ‘‘foreign agent’’ label in an attempt to undermine RFE/RL’s rep- utation for independence and intimidate RFE/RL’s large audience in Russia; Whereas Russians, particularly Russian youth, have used so- cial media to debunk state-sponsored disinformation and encourage peaceful demonstrations, leading to a renewed crackdown against social media by Russian authorities; Whereas Russia expelled diplomats from Poland, Germany, and Sweden on February 8, 2021, after they observed pro-Navalny protests; Whereas the European Parliament issued a Joint Motion for a Resolution on January 20, 2021, calling for the imme- diate release of Alexey Navalny and all other individuals detained in relation to his return to Russia and con- demning Russian authorities’ use of chemical nerve agents against its own citizens and continued attacks on VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 455 IH dissidents and civil society through attempts to silence any opposition; Whereas the January 20, 2021, European Parliament resolu- tion also calls on the EU and its Member States to ex- pand sanctions against Russia and ‘‘to critically review cooperation with Russia in various foreign policy plat- forms and on projects such as Nord Stream 2, the com- pletion of which the EU must stop immediately’’, fol- lowing Navalny’s wrongful imprisonment; Whereas the European Court of Human Rights has on Feb- ruary 16, 2021, called for the ‘‘immediate’’ release of Alexey Navalny by the Russian authorities under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court; Whereas the Biden administration imposed costs for harmful foreign activities by the Government of the Russian Fed- eration, including imposing additional sanctions on enti- ties supporting Russian malign influence activities, expel- ling Russian diplomats, and formally attributing the Rus- sian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) as the perpe- trator of the SolarWinds cyber attack; Whereas Amnesty International on February 10, 2021, issued a joint letter with 84 other human rights organiza- tions from around the world calling on the United Na- tions Human Rights Council to respond to the human rights abuses being committed by authorities in Russia and the recent crackdown on dissent and voices of inde- pendent civil society in the Russian Federation that vio- lates citizens’ rights to freedoms of expression, associa- tion, and assembly; Whereas, on March 13, 2021, the Kremlin security services entered a Congress of elected municipal deputies and ar- VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 8 •HRES 455 IH rested nearly 200 people for the crime of not adhering to the Kremlin’s command of how to interact with local con- stituents; Whereas some of those charged include elected leaders such as Ilya Yashin and Yulia Galyamina, pro-democracy re- formers Andrey Pivovarov and Anastasia Burakova, and well-known politician Vladimir Kara-Murza; Whereas Mr. Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, and activist Lyubov Sobol, have continually faced political persecution for their actions in support of Alexey Navalny and the democratic movement in Russia; Whereas Alexey Navalny began a twenty-four day hunger strike on March 31, 2021, in an attempt to receive ap- propriate medical attention, which he ended after he was transferred to a prison hospital due to his deteriorating health condition; Whereas, on April 16, 2021, the Kremlin designated Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and his regional political headquarters as ‘‘extremist groups’’, effectively liquidating the organization in Russia and, following this designation, legislation has been introduced that would prohibit any person who has ever worked, volunteered, or donated to ‘‘extremist’’ organizations from running in elections for several years; Whereas, on September 19, 2021, the Russian Federation will hold its parliamentary elections, ahead of which the Kremlin has introduced policies that might prohibit oppo- sition leaders from participating in the election; Whereas, on April 24, 2021, Alexey Navalny’s doctors pub- lished an open letter with detailed analysis of his condi- tion, concluding that there is a grave danger to his health VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR455.IH HR455 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 9 •HRES 455 IH and that he is not receiving adequate treatment and should be allowed to receive independent medical inspec- tion; Whereas more than 200 world-renowned writers, historians, artists, as well as Russian philanthropy leaders, econo- mists, and medical professionals have written open letters calling on Vladimir Putin to ensure Alexey Navalny’s ac- cess to proper medical treatment; Whereas, on April 23, 2021, the independent media outlet Meduza, which has been providing detailed coverage of Alexey Navalny’s investigations, activism, persecution, and protests in his support, and which published the open letter of over 70 Russian charity leaders and philan- thropists demanding Alexey Navalny be granted access to qualified medical care, was designated by the Government of the Russian Federation as a ‘‘foreign agent media’’, in a clear attempt to undermine its ability to retain and en- gage with its readers and supporters and to limit the Russian citizens’ access to objective journalism; Whereas bipartisan members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate have condemned the blatant poisoning of Alexey Navalny by Russian authorities; Whereas the Chair and Ranking Member of the House For- eign Affairs Committee transmitted letters to the execu- tive branch triggering a mandatory investigation into Russia’s use of chemical weapons in the poisoning of Alexey Navalny, as required under the C [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]