IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 172 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government 

of the Russian Federation, its officials, security services, and any person 

or entity within the Russian Federation or associated with the Russian 

Government, should not interfere, seek to influence, or engage in coercion 

designed to create an outcome in foreign elections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2017 

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself and Mr. ROSKAM) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the Government of the Russian Federation, its officials, 

security services, and any person or entity within the 

Russian Federation or associated with the Russian Government, should not interfere, seek to influence, or engage in coercion designed to create an outcome in foreign 

elections. 

Whereas the unanimous conclusion of 17 agencies comprising 

the intelligence community of the United States concluded in a report, parts of which were declassified and 

released on January 6, 2017, that the Government of the 

Russian Federation interfered in the elections for public 

office held in the United States in 2016; 


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•HRES 172 IH 

Whereas the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, testified before Congress on January 5, 2017, on the 

topic of Russian hacking and said, ‘‘Russia also has used 

cyber tactics and techniques to seek to influence public 

opinion across Europe and Eurasia.’’; 

Whereas Congress instructed the intelligence community in 

2016 to undertake an investigation into whether Russian 

security services were funding parties and charities within Europe with the intent of damaging democratic norms, 

weakening the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance, and supporting extremist and pro-Russia candidates for elected office; 

Whereas in the run-up to Ukrainian parliamentary elections 

in 2014, hackers associated with Russia launched an attack on Ukraine’s Central Election Commission website 

with a denial of service attack and a separate attempt to 

falsify voting results, according to Ukrainian officials; 

Whereas Germany’s intelligence agency reported that Russian 

hackers broke into Bundestag computers and servers in 

2015, and stole documents that were subsequently published on Wikileaks; 

Whereas Bulgarian officials reported that a group linked to 

Russia hacked Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission 

during their referendum and local elections in 2015; 

Whereas French newspaper Le Monde and officials from the 

Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) reported in 2016 that OSCE’s IT networks were compromised in a major hack attributed by intelligence agencies to a Russian-linked group; 

Whereas Italian officials confirmed that a sustained attack 

against its foreign ministry’s computer and IT systems in 


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•HRES 172 IH 

2016 was likely conducted by hackers associated with 

Russia; 

Whereas the Russian government ‘‘troll army’’ used social 

media to disseminate misleading or false news coverage 

produced by Russian Government English-language news 

outlets RT and Sputnik to support the ‘‘Exit’’ campaign 

during the United Kingdom’s referendum on leaving the 

European Union; 

Whereas Norwegian officials reported in February 2017 that 

nine personal civil servant email accounts had been targeted by hackers in ‘‘spear-phishing’’ attacks believed to 

be connected to Russian intelligence; 

Whereas in January 2017 the head of France’s National 

Agency for the Security of Information Systems warned 

that the 2017 French Presidential elections were at risk 

of being influenced by hacking, leaks of information, and 

other foreign interference strategies; and 

Whereas Albania, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Finland, 

France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Lichtenstein, the 

Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom have federal or 

local elections scheduled in 2017, including Presidential 

elections in France, Germany, Serbia, and Slovenia: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the Russian Federation has engaged in a 

4 widespread hacking and misinformation campaign in 

5 order to influence politics and elections in democ6 racies throughout Europe; 


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•HRES 172 IH 

1 (2) Russian officials have expressed their desire 

2 to divide the North Atlantic Treaty Organization al3 liance, weaken democratic institutions, and support 

4 extremist, pro-Moscow candidates throughout Eu5 rope; 

6 (3) Russia should immediately cease all hacking 

7 and cyber-attacks aimed at European governments, 

8 political parties, government officials, election enti9 ties, and public information systems; and 

10 (4) it is the policy of the United States Govern11 ment to sanction entities and individuals within Rus12 sia or associated with the Russian Government en13 gaged in hacking, cyber-attacks, and propaganda 

14 campaigns with the intention of interfering in demo15 cratic elections. 

Æ 


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