IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 267 

Finding that the Russian Federation’s presence in the United Nations 

Security Council violates the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Mr. COHEN (for himself and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Finding that the Russian Federation’s presence in the United 

Nations Security Council violates the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 

Whereas the Russian Federation has carried out an illegal, 

premeditated, unprovoked, and brutal war against 

Ukraine; 

Whereas the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine 

has perpetrated heinous atrocities against unarmed civilians, including pillage, torture, rape, summary executions, the destruction of entire cities, and other crimes, 

including crimes targeting women and children; 

Whereas the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine 

has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons; 


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Whereas the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine 

has forcibly occupied and taken deliberate actions that 

threaten to destroy civilian nuclear power stations, facilities the destruction of which would place millions of people in Ukraine and in other nations at risk; 

Whereas the Russian Federation has carried out illegal socalled referendums in Ukraine and adopted legislation 

purporting to annex regions, notwithstanding that the 

overwhelming majority of nations unambiguously recognize, and the Russian Federation itself had unambiguously recognized, that those regions are sovereign territory of Ukraine; 

Whereas the Russian Federation has indicated its intention 

to destroy Ukraine as a nation and has used rhetoric calling for further illegal purported annexations and violence 

against other nations; 

Whereas the Russian Federation, under the Memorandum on 

Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear 

Weapons signed at Budapest on December 7, 1994 (‘‘Budapest Memorandum’’), reaffirmed in accordance with 

the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe its commitments ‘‘to 

respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing 

borders of Ukraine’’ and ‘‘to refrain from the threat or 

use of force against the territorial integrity or political 

independence of Ukraine’’; 

Whereas Ukraine, under the Budapest Memorandum in exchange for the Russian Federation’s commitments, voluntarily relinquished the nuclear weapons in its territory 

and acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of 

Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear-weapon State; 


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Whereas the Russian Federation’s flagrant violations of its 

commitments under the Budapest Memorandum set a 

dangerous example, injurious to future efforts to promote 

nuclear arms control and nonproliferation; 

Whereas the Russian Federation, notwithstanding the commitment it made under the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports 

adopted upon the proposal of the United Nations Secretary-General on July 22, 2022, to enable the resumption of exports of Ukrainian grain, other foodstuffs, and 

fertilizer through a safe maritime humanitarian corridor, 

repeatedly threatens to obstruct that corridor and the security of the world’s food supply; 

Whereas the purposes of the United Nations (‘‘UN’’) include— 

(1) to maintain international peace and security, and 

to that end: to take effective collective measures for the 

prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for 

the suppression of acts of aggression, and to bring about 

by peaceful means adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a 

breach of the peace; 

(2) to develop friendly relations among nations 

based on respect for the principle of equal rights and 

self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace; and 

(3) to achieve international cooperation in promoting 

and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, 

sex, language, or religion; 

Whereas the principles of the UN include— 


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(1) respect for the sovereign equality of all UN 

Members; 

(2) good faith in the fulfilment of all obligations 

under the Charter of the United Nations (‘‘UN Charter’’); 

(3) peaceful settlement of international disputes; and 

(4) refraining from the threat or use of force against 

the territorial integrity or political independence of any 

State; 

Whereas Article 4 of the UN Charter opens the UN only to 

countries that are peace-loving; 

Whereas Article 6 of the UN Charter allows the UN upon 

two-thirds vote of the UN General Assembly and recommendation of the UN Security Council to expel a 

member that has persistently violated the principles of 

the UN Charter; 

Whereas international aggression is a fundamental violation 

of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; 

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly (‘‘UN General 

Assembly’’) meeting in Emergency Special Session has 

acknowledged by overwhelming majorities that— 

(1) the Russian Federation’s conduct constitutes aggression against Ukraine; 

(2) the Russian Federation’s aggression against 

Ukraine is the cause of a dire humanitarian crisis on a 

scale not seen in Europe in decades; and 

(3) the illegal so-called referendums organized by the 

Russian Federation in regions of Ukraine have no validity under international law and form no basis for any alteration of the status of any region of Ukraine; 


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Whereas the Russian Federation has ignored its responsibility to observe and implement determinations by UN 

organs and officials, including determinations by— 

(1) the UN General Assembly, which has demanded 

repeatedly that the Russian Federation immediately, 

completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within 

Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders; 

(2) the UN Human Rights Council, which has called 

upon the Russian Federation to immediately end its 

human rights violations and abuses and violations of 

international humanitarian law committed in the course 

of its aggression against Ukraine; 

(3) the International Court of Justice, which has ordered that the Russian Federation shall immediately suspend all military operations against Ukraine, including 

the military operations that the Russian Federation commenced on February 24, 2022, and refrain from actions 

violating the human rights of the Crimean Tatar and 

Ukrainian communities in the Crimean region of 

Ukraine, which region the Russian Federation has illegally occupied by force since 2014 and illegally purports 

to have annexed; 

(4) the President of the UN Security Council, who 

has condemned the continuous violations of the earlier 

cease-fire regime under the Minsk Agreements and has 

called on the Russian Federation to facilitate the work of 

the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for 

Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine; 

and 

(5) the UN Secretary-General, who has called on the 

Russian Federation to stop its military offensive against 

Ukraine and who has declared that Russia’s illegal purVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Mar 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR267.IH HR267

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ported annexation of territory in Ukraine ‘‘flouts the 

Purposes and Principles of the United Nations’’; 

Whereas the Russian Federation’s repeated threats to use 

nuclear weapons and rhetoric about raising its nuclear 

alert levels are inconsistent with and in flagrant disregard of the Joint Statement on Preventing Nuclear 

War and Avoiding Arms Races that the Russian Federation, along with the other four permanent members of the 

UN Security Council, adopted in 2022; 

Whereas the Russian Federation has abused the power of the 

veto that it holds in the UN Security Council under Article 23, paragraph 1, of the UN Charter, including by exercising the veto in order to prevent the Security Council 

from taking necessary actions and reaching appropriate 

determinations in regard to the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine; 

Whereas the Russian Federation further has abused the procedures of the Security Council, including— 

(1) by attempting to prevent senior representatives 

of Ukraine from addressing the Security Council; 

(2) by exploiting the Security Council as a venue in 

which to make patently false accusations, including false 

accusations that Ukraine has committed genocide against 

Russians, that the President of Ukraine is a Nazi, and 

that Ukraine is preparing a nuclear attack; 

(3) by advancing a draft resolution that would attempt to portray Ukraine as responsible for the humanitarian disaster resulting from the Russian Federation’s 

aggression, a draft resolution having no purpose except 

to obstruct the orderly conduct of Security Council proceedings and distract attention from the Russian Federation’s aggression; 


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(4) by lodging repeated complaints in the Security 

Council under Article VI of the Biological Weapons Convention (‘‘BWC’’) falsely accusing Ukraine of hosting biological weapons programs involving birds, bats, and mosquitoes and providing no evidence to support its complaints, while ignoring statements by the UN Office for 

Disarmament Affairs that that Office is unaware of any 

biological weapons programs in Ukraine, ignoring that 

consultations with 89 countries convened under the BWC 

did not find any BWC violations in Ukraine, and ignoring the damage that the Russian Federation’s baseless 

allegations have done to multilateral cooperation under 

the BWC; 

(5) by demanding that the Security Council convene 

in order to entertain the Russian Federation’s patently 

false and abusive claim that the atrocities that the Russian Federation committed at Bucha in Ukraine, which 

numbered among the worst atrocities up to that time in 

the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine, 

were the result of a ‘‘provocation’’ by ‘‘Ukrainian radicals’’; 

(6) by issuing false and groundless procedural complaints in the Security Council, including false accusations against the President of the Security Council that 

that Security Council officer had prevented the Russian 

Federation from making the claim that atrocities at 

Bucha were ‘‘provoked’’, despite the clear and unambiguous indication in the verbatim record that the President 

in fact had given the Russian Federation more than one 

opportunity in which to make that claim notwithstanding 

its falsity and the Russian Federation’s abusive purpose 

in making it; and 


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(7) by demanding further Security Council meetings 

in order to continue to abuse that UN organ by issuing 

from a permanent member’s seat blatantly false accusations, including accusations that it is Ukraine, not the 

Russian Federation, that is responsible for the Russian 

Federation’s atrocities and aggression; 

Whereas nations in international organizations, in light of the 

Russian Federation’s egregious violations of international 

law, have taken steps to protect the integrity of those organizations and their procedures and to hold the Russian 

Federation to account, including in— 

(1) the UN General Assembly, which by Resolution 

ES–11/3 of April 7, 2022, suspended the Russian Federation from the UN Human Rights Council; 

(2) the International Civil Aviation Organization, 

which on October 4, 2022, voted not to reelect the Russian Federation to that organization’s Governing Council; 

(3) the Danube Commission, which by Decision of 

its 12th Extraordinary Session, on March 17, 2022, declined to accept the credentials of the Russian Federation 

and excluded those representatives from participation in 

all meetings of the Danube Commission and its working 

bodies until cessation of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine; 

(4) the Permanent Council of the Organization of 

American States, which by Resolution CP/RES.1195 

(2374/22) of April 21, 2022, suspended the Russian Federation’s status as a Permanent Observer of the Organization of American States; 

(5) the UN World Tourism Organization, which by 

Resolution of April 27, 2022, suspended the Russian 

Federation’s membership in that organization; 


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(6) the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which by Decision of February 25, 2022, suspended 

the Russian Federation from its rights of representation 

in the Council of Europe and by Decision of March 16, 

2022, declared that the Russian Federation has ceased to 

be a member of the Council of Europe; and 

(7) the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 

Europe, which by Resolution 2463 (2022) of October 13, 

2022, resolved that the Russian Federation’s threats to 

use nuclear weapons and threats to use civilian nuclear 

power facilities as weapons are incompatible with the responsibilities of a country holding a permanent seat on 

the UN Security Council; 

Whereas the Security Council is the principal organ of the 

UN having primary responsibility for the maintenance of 

international peace and security; and 

Whereas the Russian Federation, notwithstanding its war of 

aggression against Ukraine, the heinous atrocities it has 

committed, its nuclear threats, its threats to the world 

food supply, the further threats to international peace 

and security it makes through baseless territorial claims 

against Ukraine and other countries, its abuse of the 

rights and privileges of permanent membership in the 

UN Security Council, and the flagrant violations of the 

purposes and principles of the UN that these actions of 

the Russian Federation entail, has continued to sit in the 

seat of a permanent member of the Security Council 

under Article 23, paragraph 1, of the UN Charter and 

to exercise other rights and privileges in UN organs and 

specialized agencies: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 


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1 (1) finds that the Russian Federation has re2 peatedly, deliberately, and flagrantly violated the 

3 purposes and principles of the United Nations; 

4 (2) finds that the continued exercise of rights 

5 and privileges by the Russian Federation in the Se6 curity Council of the United Nations under United 

7 Nations Charter Article 23, paragraph 1, further 

8 violates the purposes and principles of the United 

9 Nations and is contrary to the interests of the 

10 United States in the maintenance of international 

11 peace and security; 

12 (3) finds that the participation and membership 

13 of the Russian Federation in other organs and spe14 cialized agencies of the United Nations violates the 

15 purposes and principles of the United Nations and 

16 is contrary to the interests of the United States; 

17 (4) urges the President of the United States— 

18 (A) to direct the Department of State and 

19 other relevant Federal departments and agen20 cies to pursue all appropriate steps with Allies, 

21 partners, and other countries to limit, suspend, 

22 or terminate rights and privileges that the Rus23 sian Federation exercises in the Security Coun24 cil of the United Nations under United Nations 

25 Charter Article 23, paragraph 1; and 


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1 (B) to direct the Department of State and 

2 other relevant Federal departments and agen3 cies to pursue all appropriate steps with Allies, 

4 partners, and other countries to limit, suspend, 

5 or terminate the participation or membership of 

6 the Russian Federation in other organs and 

7 specialized agencies of the United Nations; and 

8 (5) supports the deployment by the United 

9 States of all necessary diplomatic and other re10 sources to ensure the success of the steps that it 

11 herein urges the President to direct. 

Æ 


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