REPO for Ukrainians Act

II Calendar No. 316 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 2003 To authorize the Secretary of State to provide additional assistance to Ukraine using assets confiscated from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and other sovereign assets of the Russian Federation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 15, 2023 Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WICKER, Mr. RICKETTS, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. KELLY, Mr. MANCHIN, Mrs. BRITT, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. YOUNG, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. CORNYN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations JANUARY 30, 2024 Reported by Mr. CARDIN, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To authorize the Secretary of State to provide additional assistance to Ukraine using assets confiscated from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and other sov- ereign assets of the Russian Federation, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2003 RS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for 5 Ukrainians Act’’ or the ‘‘REPO for Ukrainians Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—CONFISCATION AND REPURPOSING OF RUSSIAN SOVEREIGN ASSETS Sec. 101. Findings; sense of Congress. Sec. 102. Sense of Congress regarding importance of the Russian Federation providing compensation to Ukraine. Sec. 103. Prohibition on release of blocked Russian sovereign assets. Sec. 104. Authority to ensure compensation to Ukraine using confiscated Rus- sian sovereign assets. Sec. 105. International agreement to use Russian sovereign assets to provide for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Sec. 106. Report on use of confiscated Russian sovereign assets for reconstruc- tion. Sec. 107. Assessment by Secretary of State and Administrator of United States Agency for International Development on reconstruction and rebuilding needs of Ukraine. Sec. 108. Exception relating to importation of goods. Sec. 109. Definitions. TITLE II—MULTILATERAL SANCTIONS COORDINATION Sec. 201. Statement of policy regarding coordination of multilateral sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation. Sec. 202. Assessment of impact of Ukraine-related sanctions on the economy of the Russian Federation. Sec. 203. Information on voting practices in the United Nations with respect to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6411 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2003 RS TITLE I—CONFISCATION AND 1 REPURPOSING OF RUSSIAN 2 SOVEREIGN ASSETS 3 SEC. 101. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 5 ings: 6 (1) On February 24, 2022, the Government of 7 the Russian Federation violated the sovereignty and 8 territorial integrity of Ukraine by engaging in a pre- 9 meditated, second illegal invasion of Ukraine. 10 (2) The international community has con- 11 demned the illegal invasions of Ukraine by the Rus- 12 sian Federation, as well as the commission of war 13 crimes by the Russian Federation, including through 14 the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian in- 15 frastructure and the commission of sexual violence. 16 (3) The leaders of the G7 have called the Rus- 17 sian Federation’s ‘‘unprovoked and completely un- 18 justified attack on the democratic state of Ukraine’’ 19 a ‘‘serious violation of international law and a grave 20 breach of the United Nations Charter and all com- 21 mitments Russia entered in the Helsinki Final Act 22 and the Charter of Paris and its commitments in the 23 Budapest Memorandum’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2003 RS (4) On March 2, 2022, the United Nations 1 General Assembly adopted Resolution ES–11/1, enti- 2 tled ‘‘Aggression against Ukraine’’, by a vote of 141 3 to 5. That resolution ‘‘deplore[d] in the strongest 4 terms the aggression by the Russian Federation 5 against Ukraine in violation of Article 2(4) of the 6 [United Nations] Charter’’ and demanded that the 7 Russian Federation ‘‘immediately cease its use of 8 force against Ukraine’’ and ‘‘immediately, completely 9 and unconditionally withdraw all of its military 10 forces from the territory of Ukraine within its inter- 11 nationally recognized borders’’. 12 (5) On March 16, 2022, the International 13 Court of Justice issued provisional measures order- 14 ing the Russian Federation to ‘‘immediately suspend 15 the military operations that it commenced on 24 16 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine’’. 17 (6) On November 14, 2022, the United Nations 18 General Assembly adopted a resolution— 19 (A) recognizing that the Russian Federa- 20 tion must bear the legal consequences of all of 21 its internationally wrongful acts, including mak- 22 ing reparation for the injury, including any 23 damage, caused by such acts; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2003 RS (B) recognizing the need for the establish- 1 ment of an international mechanism for repara- 2 tion for damage, loss, or injury caused by the 3 Russian Federation in Ukraine; and 4 (C) recommending creation of an inter- 5 national register of such damage, loss, or in- 6 jury. 7 (7) Under international law, a country that is 8 responsible for an internationally wrongful act is 9 under an obligation to compensate for the damage it 10 has caused if such damage cannot be made good by 11 restitution. The Russian Federation bears such re- 12 sponsibility to compensate Ukraine, and because of 13 this grave breach of international law, all states are 14 legally entitled to take countermeasures that are 15 proportionate and aimed at inducing the Russian 16 Federation to comply with its international obliga- 17 tions, including countermeasures that suspend ordi- 18 nary international obligations to the Russian Fed- 19 eration, to help enforce the obligation of the Russian 20 Federation to compensate Ukraine. 21 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 22 gress that, having committed an act of aggression, as rec- 23 ognized by the United Nations General Assembly on 24 March 2, 2022, the Russian Federation is to be considered 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2003 RS as an aggressor state. The extreme illegal actions taken 1 by the Russian Federation, including an act of aggression, 2 present a unique situation, requiring and justifying the es- 3 tablishment of a legal authority to compensate victims of 4 aggression by the Russian Federation in Ukraine. In this 5 case, that authority is the authority of the United States 6 Government and other countries to confiscate Russian sov- 7 ereign assets in their respective jurisdictions to help en- 8 force the obligation of the Russian Federation to com- 9 pensate Ukraine. 10 SEC. 102. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING IMPORTANCE 11 OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION PROVIDING 12 COMPENSATION TO UKRAINE. 13 It is the sense of Congress that— 14 (1) the Russian Federation bears responsibility 15 for the financial burden of the reconstruction of 16 Ukraine and for countless other costs associated 17 with the illegal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian 18 Federation that began on February 24, 2022; 19 (2) the full cost of the Russian Federation’s un- 20 lawful war against Ukraine and the amount of 21 money the Russian Federation must pay Ukraine 22 should be assessed by an international body or 23 mechanism charged with determining compensation 24 and providing assistance to Ukraine; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2003 RS (3) the Russian Federation is now on notice of 1 its opportunity to comply with its international obli- 2 gations, including compensation, or, by agreement 3 with the government of independent Ukraine, au- 4 thorize an international body or mechanism to ad- 5 dress those outstanding obligations with authority to 6 make binding decisions on parties that comply in 7 good faith; 8 (4) the Russian Federation can, by negotiated 9 agreement, participate in any international process 10 to assess the full cost of the Russian Federation’s 11 unlawful war against Ukraine and make funds avail- 12 able to compensate for damage, loss, and injury aris- 13 ing from its internationally wrongful acts in 14 Ukraine, and if it fails to do so, the United States 15 and other countries should explore other avenues for 16 ensuring compensation to Ukraine, including confis- 17 cation and repurposing of assets of the Russian Fed- 18 eration; 19 (5) the President should lead robust engage- 20 ment on all bilateral and multilateral aspects of the 21 response by the United States to efforts by the Rus- 22 sian Federation to undermine the sovereignty and 23 territorial integrity of Ukraine, including on any pol- 24 icy coordination and alignment regarding the dis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2003 RS position of Russian sovereign assets in the context of 1 compensation; 2 (6) the confiscation and repurposing of Russian 3 sovereign assets by the United States is in the vital 4 national security interests of the United States and 5 consistent with United States and international law; 6 and 7 (7) the United States should work with inter- 8 national allies and partners on the confiscation and 9 repurposing of Russian sovereign assets as part of a 10 coordinated, multilateral effort, including with G7 11 countries and other countries in which Russian sov- 12 ereign assets are located. 13 SEC. 103. PROHIBITION ON RELEASE OF BLOCKED RUSSIAN 14 SOVEREIGN ASSETS. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—No Russian sovereign asset that 16 is blocked or immobilized by the Department of the Treas- 17 ury before the date specified in section 104(g) may be re- 18 leased or mobilized until the President certifies to the ap- 19 propriate congressional committees that— 20 (1) hostilities between the Russian Federation 21 and Ukraine have ceased; and 22 (2)(A) full compensation has been made to 23 Ukraine for harms resulting from the invasion of 24 Ukraine by the Russian Federation; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2003 RS (B) the Russian Federation is participating in 1 a bona fide international mechanism that, by agree- 2 ment, will discharge the obligations of the Russian 3 Federation to compensate Ukraine for all amounts 4 determined to be owed to Ukraine. 5 (b) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days before 6 the release or mobilization of a Russian sovereign asset 7 that previously had been blocked or immobilized by the 8 Department of the Treasury, the President shall submit 9 to the appropriate congressional committees— 10 (1) a notification of the decision to release or 11 mobilize the asset; and 12 (2) a justification in writing for such release or 13 mobilization. 14 (c) JOINT RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—No Russian sovereign asset 16 that previously had been blocked or immobilized by 17 the Department of the Treasury may be released or 18 mobilized if, within 30 days of receipt of the notifi- 19 cation and justification required under subsection 20 (b), a joint resolution is enacted prohibiting the pro- 21 posed release or mobilization. 22 (2) EXPEDITED PROCEDURES.—Any joint reso- 23 lution described in paragraph (1) introduced in ei- 24 ther House of Congress shall be considered in ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2003 RS cordance with the provisions of section 601(b) of the 1 International Security Assistance and Arms Export 2 Control Act of 1976 (Public Law 94–329; 90 Stat. 3 765), except that any such resolution shall be 4 amendable. If such a joint resolution should be ve- 5 toed by the President, the time for debate in consid- 6 eration of the veto message on such measure shall 7 be limited to 20 hours in the Senate and in the 8 House of Representatives shall be determined in ac- 9 cordance with the Rules of the House. 10 (d) COOPERATION ON PROHIBITION OF RELEASE OF 11 CERTAIN RUSSIAN SOVEREIGN ASSETS.—The President 12 may take such action as may be necessary to seek to ob- 13 tain an agreement or arrangement between the United 14 States, Ukraine, and other countries that have blocked or 15 immobilized Russian sovereign assets to prohibit such as- 16 sets from being released or mobilized until an agreement 17 has been reached that discharges the Russian Federation 18 from further obligations to compensate Ukraine. 19 SEC. 104. AUTHORITY TO ENSURE COMPENSATION TO 20 UKRAINE USING CONFISCATED RUSSIAN SOV- 21 EREIGN ASSETS. 22 (a) REPORTING ON RUSSIAN ASSETS.— 23 (1) NOTICE REQUIRED.—Not later than 30 24 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2003.RS S2003 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2003 RS President shall, by means of such instructions or 1 regulations as the President may prescribe, require 2 any United States financial institution at which Rus- 3 sian sovereign assets are located, and that knows or 4 should know of such assets, to provide notice of such 5 assets, including relevant information required under 6 section 501.603(b)(ii) of title 31, Code of Federal 7 Regulations (or successor regulations), to the Sec- 8 retary of the Treasury not later than 10 days after 9 detection of such assets. 10 (2) REPORT REQUIRED.— 11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 12 days after the date of the enactment of this 13 Act, [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]