Affirming the United States vital interest in liberty in Europe and resolute support for Ukraine in its efforts to counter Russian aggression and continue its trajectory among the community of democracies.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. RES. 802 Affirming the United States vital interest in liberty in Europe and resolute support for Ukraine in its efforts to counter Russian aggression and continue its trajectory among the community of democracies. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 16, 2020 Ms. KAPTUR (for herself, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. RUSH, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. COOK, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. COSTA, Mr. RYAN, Mr. LAMBORN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Mr. LIPINSKI) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Affirming the United States vital interest in liberty in Eu- rope and resolute support for Ukraine in its efforts to counter Russian aggression and continue its trajectory among the community of democracies. Whereas Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza- tion’s (NATO) Partnership for Peace Program in 1994, and has been a longstanding NATO-aspirant country; Whereas at the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit, member na- tions’ heads of state and government issued a commu- nique stating, ‘‘NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 802 IH NATO. Both nations have made valuable contribution to Alliance operations.’’; Whereas Ukraine and the European Union have entered into an Association Agreement, which pro-Russian, corrupt Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych refused to con- clude in 2013; Whereas, in 2014, the Ukrainian people bravely rose up in the Revolution of Dignity, leading to the ouster of Presi- dent Yanukovych; Whereas, as a result, Russian Forces illegally invaded, occu- pied, and annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014, as well as led and supported illegal military, para- military, and other separatist activity in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of eastern Ukraine since April 2014; Whereas the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine has led to the deaths of more than 13,000 people and the internal dis- placement of more than 1,400,000; Whereas Russian-controlled separatists continue to violate ceasefire agreements, including through bringing heavy weaponry near civilian populations and the line of con- tact; Whereas Russian-controlled separatists have been targeting civilian basic needs facilities such as water filtration sys- tems, heat and electricity facilities, powerlines, and other critical services; Whereas, on July 17, 2014, Russian-backed separatists shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 tragically killing 298 innocents; Whereas Russia has a deeply concerning human rights record in Russian-occupied Crimea and territories in eastern Ukraine, including persecution of religious minorities VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 802 IH such as the Crimean Tatars, and arbitrary arrests and disappearances of journalists and civil society activists; Whereas international humanitarian law, including the Gene- va Conventions, to which Russia is a signatory, requires Russia to respect and protect the religious freedom of the inhabitants of the territory it occupies and controls, or controls through organized nonstate armed groups it commands, and holds Russia responsible for violations of religious freedom in this territory; Whereas according to the Department of State’s Inter- national Religious Freedom Reports, and other reporting, violations of religious freedom in the Crimea region of Ukraine since Russia invaded and occupied the territory have included abduction, detention and imprisonment, torture, forced psychiatric hospitalizations, fines, restric- tions on missionary activities, confiscations of property, including churches and meeting halls, expulsions and ob- structions to reentry, denying registration of religious groups, vandalism, fines, and banning peaceful religious groups, and targeted groups have included Muslim Cri- mean Tatars, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formerly the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patri- archate, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Protes- tant Christians, and Jehovah’s Witnesses; Whereas according to the Department of State’s Inter- national Religious Freedom Reports, violations of reli- gious freedom in the part of the Donbas region of Ukraine controlled by armed groups commanded by Rus- sia have included detention and imprisonment, torture, confiscation of property, including churches and meeting halls, physical assaults and threats of violence, van- dalism, fines, restrictions on missionary activities, reli- VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 802 IH gious services, ceremonies, gatherings, and literature, and banning of peaceful religious groups, and targeted groups have included the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, formerly the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Protestant Christians, and Jehovah’s Witnesses; Whereas Emir-Usein Kukus, a Crimean Tatar and vocal dis- sident of Russia’s oppression in Crimea, was arrested, beaten, interrogated, and illegally transported to Rostov- on-Don in the Russian Federation by the Federal Secu- rity Service (FSB) where he remains in Russian detain- ment; Whereas Russia seeks to undermine democratic institutions in Ukraine and globally through hybrid means, including conventional warfare, cyberattacks, weaponizing energy, election intervention, disinformation campaigns, and paramilitary operations; Whereas Russia seeks to use the Nord Stream II and Turk Stream natural gas pipelines to bypass Ukrainian transit routes and weaken that nation’s energy security and economy; Whereas the Russian Federal Security Service Border Service illegally fired upon and captured 3 Ukrainian Navy ves- sels, including 24 Ukrainian crewmembers, that were ex- ercising Ukraine’s right to navigation through the Kerch Strait on the way to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol in November 2018; Whereas this naval aggression is part of Russia’s strategy of ‘‘creeping annexation’’, to slowly chip away at Ukraine’s sovereignty; VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 802 IH Whereas the Ukrainian government states that Russia is holding at least 113 Ukrainian political prisoners in Rus- sian territory and Russian-occupied Crimea in contraven- tion of international law; Whereas it is estimated that more than 100 other prisoners are being held in the Russia-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine; Whereas Russia, together with the United States and the United Kingdom, affirmed its commitment ‘‘to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing bor- ders of Ukraine’’, as well as the ‘‘obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force’’ against Ukraine in the December 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security As- surances, in exchange for Ukraine’s voluntary and peace- ful willingness to relinquish its nuclear weapons; Whereas, since 2014, the United States Government has im- posed sanctions against Russia for its illegal annexation of Crimea, invasion of eastern Ukraine, and other malign activities in Ukraine; Whereas Congress passed the Countering America’s Adver- saries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 with overwhelming bipartisan support, which codified and strengthened these sanctions; Whereas Congress has provided close to $4 billion in critical security and development assistance to Ukraine to help that nation deter Russian aggression, strengthen demo- cratic institutions, and to continue its euro-Atlantic tra- jectory; Whereas United States servicemembers in cooperation with NATO forces provide critical training to Ukrainian VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 802 IH ground force units at the Yavoriv Combat Training Cen- ter; Whereas United States cooperation with Ukraine has yielded valuable lessons into the evolution of Russia’s hybrid war- fare tactics thereby enhancing United States readiness; Whereas Ukraine held Presidential and parliamentary elec- tions in 2019, which the international community lauded as free and fair; Whereas, since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine’s civil society has played a critical role in advancing demo- cratic and rule of law reforms, sometimes paying with their lives, as was the case of Kateryna Handziuk, who died on November 4, 2018, of injuries sustained during a July 2018 acid attack; Whereas, in April 2019, Ukraine launched a special anticorruption court to counter Ukraine’s longstanding problems of corruption that is to be free from political in- fluence; Whereas Ukraine’s central bank rightfully nationalized PrivatBank due to its previous owners’ rampant corrup- tion and theft from the Ukrainian people; Whereas PrivatBank must remain independent from any oli- garch influence, must not be returned to its previous ownership, and is a test case for Ukraine’s commitment to anticorruption reform efforts; Whereas, in January 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Con- stantinople recognized an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, thereby officially granting it inde- pendence from the Russian Orthodox Church; and VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 802 IH Whereas it is the longstanding policy of the United States not to recognize territorial changes that are the result of ille- gal use of force: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 (1) reaffirms the commitment of the United 2 States to support the democratically elected Govern- 3 ment of Ukraine and its people; 4 (2) reaffirms the support of the United States 5 for the integration of Ukraine with the North Atlan- 6 tic Treaty Organization and the European Union; 7 (3) commends the Ukrainian people’s commit- 8 ment to liberty and critical progress made since the 9 2014 Revolution of Dignity despite immense pres- 10 sure from Russian aggression and hybrid warfare 11 tactics; 12 (4) condemns Russia’s continued aggression in 13 Ukraine including the illegal occupation of Crimea 14 and eastern Ukraine; 15 (5) calls for Russia to immediately remove all 16 personnel and equipment belonging to its security or 17 armed forces and proxies from the sovereign terri- 18 tory of Ukraine, and for Ukraine to regain control 19 of its border with Russia, including sections now 20 held by separatist forces; 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HRES 802 IH (6) calls for the immediate release of Ukrainian 1 human rights defenders and dissidents illegally ar- 2 rested by Russian forces and their proxies; 3 (7) condemns any form of religious persecution 4 and violation of religious freedoms by Russia or 5 armed groups commanded by Russia in the illegally 6 occupied Donbas and Crimea regions of Ukraine; 7 (8) reaffirms opposition to the Nord Stream II 8 natural gas pipeline, which is political in nature, and 9 calls for enactment of sanctions with respect to these 10 pipelines; 11 (9) expresses support for increased United 12 States security and capacity-building assistance to 13 Ukraine, and an increase in funds for such assist- 14 ance; 15 (10) urges the United States to continue to 16 strengthen critical efforts to enhance Ukrainian ca- 17 pacity to defend itself, including via enhanced cyber 18 cooperation, military training and provision of mili- 19 tary equipment, countering disinformation, assist- 20 ance to support psychosocial care and job integra- 21 tion for Ukrainian veterans, supporting market ac- 22 cess for Ukrainian rural women, and other critical 23 programs; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HRES 802 IH (11) supports the Ukrainian government in its 1 efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the inter- 2 national armed conflict in eastern Ukraine caused by 3 Russia’s ongoing military aggression and illegal oc- 4 cupation, through the establishment of a full 5 ceasefire, withdrawal of Russian and Russia-backed 6 illegal military forces, and the fulfillment of other 7 elements of the Minsk Agreements and appointing a 8 United States diplomat to play an active role in sup- 9 port of the negotiations and ensuring Ukraine’s se- 10 curity; 11 (12) calls for Russia to release all Ukrainians 12 detained by Russian forces or their proxies for their 13 activities on sovereign Ukrainian territory; 14 (13) calls on the United States Government, 15 United States allies in Europe, the United Nations, 16 the Organization for Security and Co-operation in 17 Europe, and international partners to continue to 18 pressure Russia to uphold its international obliga- 19 tions; and 20 (14) continues to oppose Russian threats to the 21 energy security of United States allies in Europe 22 and encourages the Government of the United 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HRES 802 IH States to further support the diversification of en- 1 ergy supplies to Europe. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR802.IH HR802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS