III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. RES. 223

Condemning the violence in Chechnya.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 8, 1999

Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. WELLSTONE, and Mr. LUGAR) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION

Condemning the violence in Chechnya.

Whereas, since September 1999, the Russian Federation has

conducted a military operation against Chechnya that has

resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians

and the displacement of more than 200,000 people;

Whereas the Russian armed forces is launching repeated

bombing attacks on the capital city of Grozny;

Whereas the recent conflict in Chechnya represents a continuation of the use of military force by Russia in 1994–

1996, which caused the deaths of approximately 100,000

citizens of Russia;

Whereas neither the use of force in 1994–1996, nor the current use of force in Chechnya enhances the prospects for

a peaceful resolution of the status of Chechnya;
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Whereas the United States condemns terrorism in all forms,

including the bombing attacks of apartment buildings in

Moscow and Volgodonsk in the summer of 1999;

Whereas the appropriate manner to combat terrorist attacks

is not through the use of indiscriminate force against civilians;

Whereas on November 4, 1999, Elena Bonner, Chairman of

the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, testified before the

Committee of Foreign Relations of the Senate that ‘‘carpet bombing and shelling of cities, villages, and refugee

convoys attempting to escape the war zone constitute a

grave violation of the Geneva Convention Relative to the

Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and the

Additional Protocols and demonstrate the Russian government’s complete disregard for these extremely important international agreements’’;

Whereas the United States believes that the recent targeting

of ethnic minorities by local Russian officials, including

blanket detentions and expulsions, calls into question the

commitment of the Government of Russia to pluralism in

the process of democratic reform in that country;

Whereas the Government of Russia has limited media access

to and coverage of the conflict in Chechnya to preserve

Russian popular support for the military operation;

Whereas the Government of Russia has openly violated its

commitments under the Flank Document to the Treaty

on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe with its deployments of military equipment in and around Chechnya;

and

Whereas the conduct of the Russian armed forces in

Chechnya threatens to destabilize the southern part of
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the Russian Federation as well as the region of the

Caucasus as a whole: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the Senate—

2 (1) condemns the use of indiscriminate force by

3 the Russian armed forces against civilians in

4 Chechnya;

5 (2) urges the Russian Federation—

6 (A) to assist those persons who have been

7 displaced from Chechnya as a result of the con8 flict; and

9 (B) to allow representatives of the inter10 national community access to the internally dis11 placed persons for humanitarian relief; and

12 (3) calls upon Russian President Boris Yeltsin

13 and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to devote every

14 effort, including the use of third-party mediation, to

15 the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Chechnya.

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