III

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 304

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 4, 2000

Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the condemnation of the continued egregious violations of human rights in the Republic of Belarus, the

lack of progress toward the establishment of democracy

and the rule of law in Belarus, calling on President

Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime to engage in negotiations with the representatives of the opposition and to

restore the constitutional rights of the Belarusian people,

and calling on the Russian Federation to respect the

sovereignty of Belarus.

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
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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,
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1999, ‘‘Freedom March’’, which resulted in injuries to

demonstrators and scores of illegal arrests;

Whereas hundreds of peaceful demonstrators and over thirty

journalists were arrested during a March 25, 2000, prodemocracy 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 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
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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
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1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—

3 (1) condemns continued egregious violations of

4 human rights by President Alyaksandr

5 Lukashenka’s regime in the Republic of Belarus;

6 (2) further condemns the Lukashenka regime’s

7 conviction and sentencing of Andrei Klimov, Vasiliy

8 Leonov, and Vladimir Koudinov on politically moti9 vated charges and urges their release;

10 (3) is gravely concerned about the disappear11 ances of Viktor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky, and

12 Yuri Zakharenka and calls on the Lukashenka re13 gime to ensure a full and timely investigation of

14 these cases;

15 (4) calls for immediate dialogue between the

16 Lukashenka regime and the opposition and the res17 toration of a democratically elected government in

18 Belarus;

19 (5) urges the Lukashenka regime to respect

20 and ensure the human rights of all Belarusian citi21 zens, including those members of the opposition who

22 are currently being illegally detained in violation of

23 their constitutional rights and further urges the re24 gime to respect the rule of law and an independent

25 judiciary;
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1 (6) further urges Lukashenka to hold legiti2 mate, free and fair parliamentary elections in ac3 cordance with Organization for Security and Co4 operation in Europe (OSCE) standards;

5 (7) supports the appeal by the Consultative

6 Council of Belarusian opposition parties to the Gov7 ernment of the Russian Federation, the State

8 Duma, and the Federation Council calling for a ces9 sation of support for the Lukashenka regime;

10 (8) calls on the international community to sup11 port the opposition in Belarus by continuing to meet

12 with the legitimately elected parliament;

13 (9) supports Belarus’s sovereignty, independ14 ence, and territorial integrity, as well as its market

15 democratic transformation and integration among

16 the broader trans-Atlantic community of nations;

17 (10) calls on the President of the United

18 States—

19 (A) to ensure assistance to and cooperation

20 with Belarusian opposition figures;

21 (B) to ensure that adequate resources are

22 made available on an urgent basis to support

23 those programs aimed at strengthening inde24 pendent media, human rights, civil society,
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1 independent trade unions, and the democratic

2 opposition in Belarus; and

3 (C) to support the free flow of information

4 into Belarus;

5 (11) calls on the President of the United States

6 to raise the issue of financial support provided by

7 the Russian Federation to the Lukashenka regime

8 at the highest levels of the Russian Federation Gov9 ernment;

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

11 to urge the Government of the Russian Federation,

12 in accordance with its international commitments, to

13 fully respect the sovereignty of Belarus, particularly

14 in light of the illegitimate nature of the Lukashenka

15 regime; and

16 (13) calls on the President of the United States

17 to prepare and transmit to the Congress a report

18 on—

19 (A) the human rights situation, democratic

20 process, elections, independence of the media,

21 and the Lukashenka regime’s control of the

22 economy in Belarus;

23 (B) the steps undertaken by the United

24 States to persuade the Russian Federation Gov-
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1 ernment to end support to the Lukashenka re2 gime in Belarus; and

3 (C) the status of Russian Federation4 Belarus military integration.

Passed the House of Representatives May 3, 2000.

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL,

Clerk.