H. Con. Res. 304 Agreed to June 23, 2000

One Hundred Sixth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,

the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand

Concurrent Resolution

Whereas the United States has a vital interest in the promotion

of democracy abroad and supports democracy and economic

development in the Republic of Belarus;

Whereas in the Fall of 1996, Belarusian President Alyaksandr

Lukashenka devised a controversial referendum to impose a new

constitution on Belarus and abolish the Parliament, the 13th

Supreme Soviet, replacing it with a rubber-stamp legislature;

Whereas President Lukashenka organized a referendum in violation

of the 1994 Belarusian Constitution, which illegally extended

his term of office to 2001;

Whereas Lukashenka’s legal term in office expired in July 1999;

Whereas Belarus has effectively become an authoritarian police

state, where human rights are routinely violated;

Whereas Belarusian economic development is stagnant and living

conditions are deplorable;

Whereas in May 1999, the Belarusian opposition challenged

Lukashenka’s unconstitutional lengthening of his term by staging

alternative presidential elections, unleashing the government

crackdown;

Whereas the leader of the opposition, Semyon Sharetsky, was forced

to flee Belarus to the neighboring Baltic state of the Republic

of Lithuania in fear for his life;

Whereas several leaders of the opposition, including Viktor Gonchar,

Anatoly Krasovsky, and Yuri Zakharenka have disappeared;

Whereas the Belarusian regime harasses and persecutes the independent media and works to actively suppress freedom of speech;

Whereas former Prime Minister Mikhail Chygir, who was a candidate in the opposition’s alternative presidential elections in

May 1999, was held in pretrial detention on trumped up charges

from April through November 1999;

Whereas the Lukashenka regime provoked the clashes between

riot police and demonstrators at the October 17, 1999, ‘‘Freedom

March’’, which resulted in injuries to demonstrators and scores

of illegal arrests;

Whereas hundreds of peaceful demonstrators and over 30 journalists were arrested during a March 25, 2000, pro-democracy rally

in Miensk, once again illustrating the Lukashenka regime’s disregard for freedom of assembly, association, and information;

Whereas the Lukashenka regime has refused to engage in meaningful dialogue with the opposition and has used the tactics of
H. Con. Res. 304—2

delay and obfuscation in disregarding the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)-mediated dialogue

process;

Whereas genuine dialogue with the opposition and legitimate, free

and fair elections cannot take place in the present climate of

repression and fear existing in Belarus;

Whereas on April 3, 1996, Russian Federation President Boris

Yeltsin and President Lukashenka signed an agreement to form

a Union State of Russia and Belarus;

Whereas there have been credible press reports that the Government of the Russian Federation has been providing assistance

to the Lukashenka regime since the signing of the agreement

to form a Union State, such as official Russian Federation Government credits, uncollected customs duties, assistance for export

sales of Belarusian arms and joint manufacturing of arms, and

reduced prices for energy supplies;

Whereas there has been a credible estimate cited in press reports

that Russian Federation economic subsidies to Belarus reached

$1,500,000,000 to $2,000,000,000 in 1996 and 1997 alone,

enabling the Lukashenka regime to maintain a large police force

and state control of the economy;

Whereas the Union Treaty, signed on December 8, 1999, by Belarus

and the Russian Federation, undermines Belarus sovereignty and

the prospect of democracy;

Whereas the Consultative Council of Belarusian opposition parties

appealed to the Government of the Russian Federation, the State

Duma, and the Federation Council calling for a cessation of

support for the Lukashenka regime;

Whereas the former Chairmen of the Belarusian Supreme Soviet,

Stanislav Shushkevich and Semyon Sharetsky, have stated that

economic support from the Russian Federation has been crucial

to the survival of the Lukashenka regime;

Whereas a Union Treaty between the Russian Federation and

Belarus was ratified by the Russian Parliament and the illegitimate parliament of Belarus;

Whereas the Union Treaty between the Russian Federation and

the Lukashenka regime violates Russian Federation Government

respect for the sovereignty of Belarus per the memorandum on

security guarantees signed by Russian Federation President Boris

Yeltsin at the December 1994 Summit of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Heads of State in Budapest,

Hungary; and

Whereas the introduction of any nuclear weapons on the territory

of Belarus, a declared non-nuclear state under the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, would be a violation

of Belarus’s obligations under that Treaty: Now, therefore, be

it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress—

(1) condemns continued egregious violations of human

rights by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime in the

Republic of Belarus;

(2) further condemns the Lukashenka regime’s conviction

and sentencing of Andrei Klimov, Vasiliy Leonov, and Vladimir
H. Con. Res. 304—3

Koudinov on politically motivated charges and urges their

release;

(3) is gravely concerned about the disappearances of Viktor

Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky, and Yuri Zakharenka and calls

on the Lukashenka regime to ensure a full and timely investigation of these cases;

(4) calls for immediate dialogue between the Lukashenka

regime and the opposition and the restoration of a democratically elected government in Belarus;

(5) urges the Lukashenka regime to respect and ensure

the human rights of all Belarusian citizens, including those

members of the opposition who are currently being illegally

detained in violation of their constitutional rights and further

urges the regime to respect the rule of law and an independent

judiciary;

(6) further urges Lukashenka to hold legitimate, free and

fair parliamentary elections in accordance with Organization

for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) standards;

(7) supports the appeal by the Consultative Council of

Belarusian opposition parties to the Government of the Russian

Federation, the State Duma, and the Federation Council calling

for a cessation of support for the Lukashenka regime;

(8) calls on the international community to support the

opposition in Belarus by continuing to meet with the legitimately elected parliament;

(9) supports Belarus’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, as well as its market democratic transformation

and integration among the broader trans-Atlantic community

of nations;

(10) calls on the President of the United States—

(A) to ensure assistance to and cooperation with

Belarusian opposition figures;

(B) to ensure that adequate resources are made available on an urgent basis to support those programs aimed

at strengthening independent media, human rights, civil

society, independent trade unions, and the democratic

opposition in Belarus; and

(C) to support the free flow of information into Belarus;

(11) calls on the President of the United States to raise

the issue of financial support provided by the Russian Federation to the Lukashenka regime at the highest levels of the

Russian Federation Government;

(12) calls on the President of the United States to urge

the Government of the Russian Federation, in accordance with

its international commitments, to fully respect the sovereignty

of Belarus, particularly in light of the illegitimate nature of

the Lukashenka regime; and

(13) calls on the President of the United States to prepare

and transmit to the Congress a report on—

(A) the human rights situation, democratic process,

elections, independence of the media, and the Lukashenka

regime’s control of the economy in Belarus;

(B) the steps undertaken by the United States to persuade the Russian Federation Government to end support

to the Lukashenka regime in Belarus; and
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(C) the status of Russian Federation-Belarus military

integration.

Attest:

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Attest:

Secretary of the Senate.