III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 227 

Calling on the President to support the creation of an international special 

tribunal to prosecute Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 31 (legislative day, MAY 30), 2023 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. KAINE) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the President to support the creation of an international special tribunal to prosecute Russia’s aggression 

against Ukraine. 

Whereas, on February 24, 2022, Russia unleashed a fullscale invasion of Ukraine in contravention of international law and the Charter of the United Nations; 

Whereas the Russian Armed Forces committed mass atrocities in Bucha, Irpin, Kherson, Izyum, Mariupol, Dnipro, 

and Ukrainian towns occupied by the Russian Federation, including rape, summary execution, and unlawful violence and threats against civilians; 

Whereas the Russian Armed Forces deliberately choose to 

target civilian infrastructure to terrorize Ukrainian citizens; 


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•SRES 227 IS 

Whereas, on September 21, 2022, Ukrainian President 

Volodymyr Zelensky stated to the United Nations General Assembly that an aggression tribunal must be established as a ‘‘signal to all ‘would-be’ aggressors, that they 

must value peace or be brought to responsibility by the 

world’’; 

Whereas, on January 19, 2023, the European Parliament, by 

a vote of 472 to 19, called for the establishment of ‘‘a 

special international criminal tribunal for the crime of 

aggression against Ukraine’’ in order to ‘‘send a very 

clear signal to both Russian society and the international 

community that Putin and the Russian political and military leadership can be convicted for the crime of aggression in Ukraine’’; 

Whereas, on March 27, 2023, the United States Ambassadorat-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Dr. Beth Van 

Schaack, stated, ‘‘There is no question that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a manifest violation of the 

UN Charter.’’; 

Whereas Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations 

states, ‘‘All Members shall refrain in their international 

relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or 

in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of 

the United Nations.’’; 

Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 

(XXIX), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 14, 1974, defines aggression as ‘‘the 

use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, 

territorial integrity or political independence of another 

State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as set out in this Definition’’; 


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•SRES 227 IS 

Whereas Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International 

Criminal Court, as amended by Resolution RC/Res. 6, 

adopted by the Review Conference at the 13th plenary 

meeting on June 11, 2010, states, in part: ‘‘For the purpose of this Statute, ‘crime of aggression’ means the 

planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person 

in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act 

of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, 

constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the 

United Nations.’’; 

Whereas, on March 17, 2023, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the 

International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for 

President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for 

Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for their responsibility in the war crimes of unlawful deportation and 

transfer of children, and the International Criminal 

Court continues to investigate other international crimes 

within its jurisdiction that have been committed in 

Ukraine; 

Whereas the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction 

over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide 

in Ukraine, but it does not have jurisdiction over crimes 

of aggression in Ukraine because neither Ukraine nor the 

Russian Federation have ratified the Rome Statute and 

its amendments related to the crime of aggression; 

Whereas the Russian Federation has committed manifest aggression against the Ukrainian State for which its leadership must be held accountable; 

Whereas the international community must hold those responsible for these atrocities to account for their actions, 


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•SRES 227 IS 

including Russian President Putin and all of the Members of the Security Council of Russia; and 

Whereas an international special tribunal must be based on 

the adoption of a United Nations General Assembly Resolution: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns, in the strongest terms, the Rus3 sian Federation’s full-scale war and aggression 

4 against Ukraine; 

5 (2) regards the Russian Federation’s aggression 

6 in Ukraine as an affront to humanity and in con7 travention of international law; 

8 (3) calls on the United States to use its voice 

9 and vote in international institutions to support the 

10 creation of a special international criminal tribunal 

11 to hold accountable the leaders of the Russian Fed12 eration who led and sanctioned aggression in 

13 Ukraine; 

14 (4) states its expectation that such a tribunal 

15 will be formed pursuant to a United Nations General 

16 Assembly resolution put forward by friends of 

17 Ukraine that would— 

18 (A) direct the Secretary General of the 

19 United Nations to negotiate with Ukraine the 

20 terms of the tribunal’s scope; and 


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•SRES 227 IS 

1 (B) ensure that the role of the United Na2 tions— 

3 (i) would be complementary to the ju4 risdiction of the International Criminal 

5 Court; and 

6 (ii) would not limit or affect the juris7 diction of the International Criminal 

8 Court, including its exercise of jurisdiction 

9 over war crimes, crimes against humanity, 

10 and possible genocide committed in the 

11 context of Russia’s ongoing aggression 

12 against Ukraine; and 

13 (5) stands with people of Ukraine in support of 

14 their freedom and Ukraine’s sovereignty against tyr15 anny. 

Æ 


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