III 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 629 

Condemning the arbitrary arrest of United States citizens by the Government 

of the Russian Federation and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of such citizens. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 8, 2024 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. KAINE, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CASEY, Mr. COONS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. 

KING, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BENNET, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. 

WELCH, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WYDEN, and Ms. WARREN) submitted the 

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

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the arbitrary arrest of United States citizens 

by the Government of the Russian Federation and calling 

for the immediate and unconditional release of such citizens. 

Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has arbitrarily and cruelly arrested United States citizens under 

false pretenses in order to extract bargaining leverage on 

unrelated matters; 

Whereas the Russian Federation is a permanent member of 

the United Nations Security Council; 


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•SRES 629 IS 

Whereas, on March 29, 2023, the Government of the Russian 

Federation arrested United States citizen and accredited 

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on fraudulent charges of espionage for his reporting on the Russian economy; 

Whereas Gershkovich has spent more than one year in pretrial detention in the notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow, including in isolation with limited access to medical 

care and attorneys; 

Whereas, even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union never 

held a journalist from the United States for similar longterm detention, with the closest parallel being the 1986 

arrest and 13-day detainment of U.S. News and World 

Report journalist Nicholas Daniloff; 

Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10, 

2023, that Gershkovich has been wrongfully detained by 

the Government of the Russian Federation; 

Whereas, on December 28, 2018, the Government of the Russian Federation arrested United States citizen Paul 

Whelan and later convicted him on June 15, 2020, on 

fraudulent espionage charges; 

Whereas Whelan has spent nearly four years in various highsecurity jails and labor camps in the Russian Federation, 

while enduring solitary confinement, forced labor, and the 

denial of medical care; 

Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10, 

2023, that Whelan has been wrongfully detained by the 

Government of the Russian Federation; 

Whereas United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation Lynne Tracy publicly stated on March 26, 2024, following Evan Gershkovich’s court hearing, ‘‘Evan’s case is 


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•SRES 629 IS 

not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is 

about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is doing in the case of Paul 

Whelan’’; 

Whereas, on June 2, 2023, the Government of the Russian 

Federation arrested United States citizen and Radio Free 

Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on politically motivated charges of working as a foreign agent 

and ‘‘spreading falsehoods about the Russian military,’’ 

and who now faces a prison sentence up to 15 years; 

Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has repeatedly denied consular access, basic medical care, and 

ordered Kurmasheva to remain in pre-trial detention in 

prison conditions Kurmasheva described as ‘‘inhumane’’; 

Whereas, on August 14, 2021, the Government of the Russian Federation arrested United States citizen and international schoolteacher Marc Fogel for possession of medical marijuana prescribed by his physician, then sentenced him on June 16, 2022, to an excessive 14-year 

sentence in a Russian labor camp; 

Whereas lawyers from the Russian Federation informed 

Fogel’s family that the typical sentence for the offense is 

five years of probation, and in 2019, the same Russian 

court sentenced a Russian defendant to eight years in 

prison for the possession of 1,500 grams of various narcotics; 

Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation sentenced Fogel to punishment vastly disproportionate to the 

severity of his nonviolent crime, wildly dissimilar to the 

typical punishments for comparable offenses in the Russian Federation, and clearly motivated by ongoing politVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Apr 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR629.IS SR629

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ical tensions between the Russian Federation and the 

United States; 

Whereas, on January 28, 2024, the Government of the Russian Federation arrested United States citizen and amateur ballerina Ksenia Khavana on fraudulent charges of 

high treason during a visit to the Russian Federation 

after she donated $50 to a charity supporting humanitarian aid for Ukraine; 

Whereas Khavana has been held in a high-security prison 

with no access to hot water or heat during winter, and 

faces a 20-year sentence with limited means of legal defense; 

Whereas, on February 17, 2022, the Government of the Russian Federation arrested Brittney Griner on trumped-up 

charges, kept her in detention for approximately ten 

months, and eventually released her on December 8, 

2022, in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer 

Viktor Bout; 

Whereas, on April 11, 2022, the Government of the Russian 

Federation arrested United States permanent resident 

Vladimir Kara-Murza for criticizing renewed invasion of 

Ukraine by the Russian Federation and resulting ongoing 

war and the criminality of the Government of the Russian Federation, and sentenced Kara-Murza on April 17, 

2023, to a 25-year sentence for ‘‘high treason’’; 

Whereas human rights groups in the Russian Federation estimate that the Government of the Russian Federation 

holds nearly 20,000 political prisoners in Russian jails, 

including, until his February 2024 death in a Siberian 

gulag, opposition leader Alexei Navalny; 


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Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has kidnapped more than 19,000 Ukrainian children and abducted them to the Russian Federation, resulting in 

President Vladimir Putin being indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes; 

Whereas, under Vladimir Putin, Russian courts are neither 

independent nor fair in the administration of justice and 

are entirely beholden to the political whims of Putin; 

Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has refused to provide neither minimal due process nor fair 

independent legal proceedings for United States citizens 

Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana; 

Whereas the Department of State has called for the release 

of Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and 

Khavana; 

Whereas the arrest and continued detention of Gershkovich, 

Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana amount to 

hostage taking by the Government of the Russian Federation: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns— 

3 (A) the arbitrary arrest and continued de4 tention of United States citizens Evan 

5 Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, 

6 Marc Fogel, and Ksenia Khavana, and United 

7 States permanent resident Vladimir Kara8 Murza by the Government of the Russian Fed9 eration; 


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1 (B) the hostage taking of United States 

2 citizens by a Permanent Member of the United 

3 Nations Security Council; and 

4 (C) the ongoing persecution, arrest, and 

5 political imprisonment of ordinary Russian citi6 zens and human rights defenders who call for 

7 the end of the war in Ukraine and demand free8 dom in the Russian Federation; 

9 (2) urges the Department of State to determine 

10 that Alsu Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, Ksenia 

11 Khavana, and Vladimir Kara-Murza have been 

12 wrongfully detained by the Government of the Rus13 sian Federation; and 

14 (3) calls on the immediate and unconditional re15 lease of United States citizens Evan Gershkovich, 

16 Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, and 

17 Ksenia Khavana, and United States permanent resi18 dent Vladimir Kara-Murza. 

Æ 


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