III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 69 

Expressing the sense of the Senate about the actions of Russia regarding 

Georgia and Moldova. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2005 

Mr. LUGAR submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate about the actions of 

Russia regarding Georgia and Moldova. 

Whereas the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 

Europe (OSCE) evolved from the Conference on Security 

and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which was established in 1975, and the official change of its name from 

CSCE to OSCE became effective on January 1, 1995; 

Whereas the OSCE is the largest regional security organization in the world with 55 participating States from Europe, Central Asia, and North America; 

Whereas the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the 1990 Charter of 

Paris, and the 1999 Charter for European Security 

adopted in Istanbul are the principal documents of 

OSCE, defining a steadily evolving and maturing set of 
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•SRES 69 IS

political commitments based on a broad understanding of 

security; 

Whereas the OSCE is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation; 

Whereas Russia and Georgia agreed at the 1999 OSCE Summit in Istanbul on specific steps regarding the withdrawal 

from Georgia of Russian forces, including military equipment limited by the Treaty on Conventional Armed 

Forces in Europe (CFE), and committed to resolve other 

key issues relating to the status and duration of the Russian military presence in Georgia; 

Whereas Russia has completed some of the withdrawal from 

Georgia of military equipment limited by the CFE Treaty 

in excess of agreed levels, but has yet to agree with Georgia on the status of Russian forces at the Gudauata base 

and the duration of the Russian presence at the 

Akhalkalaki and Batumi bases; 

Whereas Russia completed the withdrawal from Moldova of 

its declared military equipment limited by the CFE Treaty, but has yet to withdraw all its military forces from 

Moldova, as Russia committed to do at the 1999 OSCE 

Summit in Istanbul; 

Whereas Russia made virtually no progress in 2004 toward 

its commitment to withdraw its military forces from 

Moldova; 

Whereas Moldova has called for a genuinely international 

peacekeeping force to replace the Russian forces, and insists on the implementation by Russia of its commitment 

to withdraw its remaining military forces from Moldova; 
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Whereas Secretary of State Colin Powell stated at the December 2004 OSCE Ministerial in Sofia, Bulgaria, that 

‘‘Russia’s commitments to withdraw its military forces 

from Moldova, and to agree with Georgia on the duration 

of the Russian military presence there, remain unfulfilled. 

A core principle of the CFE Treaty is host country agreement to the stationing of forces. The United States remains committed to moving ahead with ratification of the 

Adapted CFE Treaty, but we will only do so after all the 

Istanbul commitments on Georgia and Moldova have been 

met. And we stand ready to assist with reasonable costs 

associated with the implementation of those commitments.’’; 

Whereas since June 2004, Russia has called for the closure 

of the OSCE Border Monitoring Operation (BMO), the 

sole source of objective reporting on border crossings 

along the border between Georgia and with the Russian 

republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia; 

Whereas OSCE border monitors took up their mission in 

Georgia in May 2000, and prior to the failure to extend 

the mandate for the BMO in December 2004, OSCE border monitors, who are unarmed, were deployed at nine locations along that border; 

Whereas the current rotation of the BMO includes 65 border 

monitors from 23 countries, including Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech 

Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, 

Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and 

the United States; 

Whereas at the December 2004 OSCE Ministerial, Russia 

blocked renewal of the mandate for the BMO in Georgia; 
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Whereas Russia has stated that the BMO has accomplished 

nothing, but it has in fact accomplished a great deal, including observing 746 unarmed and 61 armed border 

crossings in 2004 and serving as a counterweight to inflammatory press reports; 

Whereas in response to Russian complaints about the costeffectiveness of the BMO, the OSCE agreed in December 

2004 to cut the number of monitors and thereby reduce 

the cost of the BMO by almost half; 

Whereas the BMO began shutting down on January 1, 2005; 

Whereas the staff of the BMO is now dismantling facilities 

and is not performing its mission; 

Whereas the shutdown of the BMO will become irreversible 

in the second half of March 2005 and is currently scheduled to be completed by May 2005; 

Whereas the United States has reiterated its disappointment 

over the failure of the Permanent Council of the OSCE 

to reach consensus on renewing the mandate of the 

BMO, despite request of Georgia, the host country of the 

BMO, that the OSCE continue the border monitoring operation, and the consensus of all states but one to extend 

the mandate for the BMO; and 

Whereas United States Ambassador to the United States 

Mission to the OSCE, Stephan M. Minikes, said in a 

statement to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on 

January 19, 2005, that ‘‘we believe that the closure of 

the BMO would remove a key source of peaceful relations 

and of objective reporting on events at the sensitive border and increase the likelihood of heightened RussiaGeorgia tensions.’’: Now, therefore, be it 
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1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 

2 United States should— 

3 (1) urge Russia to live up to its commitments 

4 at the 1999 Organization for Security and Coopera5 tion in Europe (OSCE) Summit in Istanbul regard6 ing Georgia and Moldova; 

7 (2) in cooperation with its European allies, 

8 maintain strong diplomatic pressure to permit the 

9 OSCE Border Monitoring Operation (BMO) in 

10 Georgia to continue; and 

11 (3) if the BMO ceases to exist, seek, in coopera12 tion with its European allies, an international pres13 ence to monitor objectively border crossings along 

14 the border between Georgia and the Russian repub15 lics of Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia. 

Æ