III 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 713 

Recognizing Russian actions in Ukraine as a genocide. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 20, 2022 

Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WICKER, Mrs. 

SHAHEEN, Mr. PORTMAN, and Mr. GRAHAM) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing Russian actions in Ukraine as a genocide. 

Whereas the Russian Federation’s illegal, premeditated, 

unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine includes extensive, systematic, and flagrant atrocities against the 

people of Ukraine; 

Whereas article II of the Convention on the Prevention and 

Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (in this preamble 

referred to as the ‘‘Genocide Convention’’), adopted and 

opened for signature in 1948 and entered into force in 

1951, defines genocide as ‘‘any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) 

Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily 

or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately 

inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to 


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•SRES 713 IS 

bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within 

the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group 

to another group’’; 

Whereas, on October 3, 2018, the Senate unanimously agreed 

to Senate Resolution 435, 115th Congress, which commemorated the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor and 

‘‘recognize[d] the findings of the Commission on the 

Ukraine Famine as submitted to Congress on April 22, 

1988, including that ‘Joseph Stalin and those around 

him committed genocide against the Ukrainians in 1932– 

1933’ ’’; 

Whereas substantial and significant evidence documents widespread, systematic actions against the Ukrainian people 

committed by Russian forces under the direction of political leadership of the Russian Federation that meet one 

or more of the criteria under article II of the Genocide 

Convention, including— 

(1) killing members of the Ukrainian people in mass 

atrocities through deliberate and regularized murders of 

fleeing civilians and civilians in passing as well as purposeful targeting of homes, schools, hospitals, shelters, 

and other residential and civilian areas; 

(2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the Ukrainian people by launching indiscriminate 

attacks against civilians and civilian areas, conducting 

willful strikes on humanitarian evacuation corridors, and 

employing widespread and systematic sexual violence 

against Ukrainian civilians, including women, children, 

and men; 

(3) deliberately inflicting upon the Ukrainian people 

conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical 


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•SRES 713 IS 

destruction in whole or in part, including displacement 

due to annihilated villages, towns, and cities left devoid 

of food, water, shelter, electricity, and other basic necessities, starvation caused by the destruction of farmlands 

and agricultural equipment, the placing of Russian landmines across thousands of acres of useable fields, and 

blocking the delivery of humanitarian food aid; 

(4) imposing measures intended to prevent births 

among the Ukrainian people, demonstrated by the Russian military’s expansive and direct targeting of maternity hospitals and other medical facilities and systematic 

attacks against residential and civilian areas as well as 

humanitarian corridors intended to deprive Ukrainians of 

safe havens within their own country and the material 

conditions conducive to childrearing; and 

(5) forcibly mass transferring millions of Ukrainian 

civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom are children, to 

the Russian Federation or territories controlled by the 

Russian Federation; 

Whereas the state-level intent of the Russian Federation in 

favor of those heinous crimes against humanity has been 

demonstrated through frequent pronouncements and 

other forms of official communication denying Ukrainian 

nationhood and sovereignty, including President Putin’s 

ahistorical claims that Ukraine is part of a ‘‘single 

whole’’ Russian nation with ‘‘no historical basis’’ for 

being an independent country; 

Whereas some Russian soldiers and brigades accused of committing war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine, and elsewhere 

were rewarded with medals by President Putin; 

Whereas the Russian state-owned media outlet RIA Novosti 

published the article ‘‘What Should Russia do with 


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•SRES 713 IS 

Ukraine’’, which outlines ‘‘de-Nazification’’ as meaning 

‘‘de-Ukrainianization’’ or the destruction of Ukraine; 

Whereas article I of the Genocide Convention confirms ‘‘that 

genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time 

of war, is a crime under international law which [the 

Contracting Parties] undertake to prevent and to punish’’; and 

Whereas although additional documentation and analysis of 

atrocities committed by the Russian Federation in 

Ukraine may be needed to punish those responsible, the 

substantial and significant documentation already undertaken, combined with statements showing intent, compel 

urgent action to prevent further acts of genocide: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) condemns the Russian Federation for com3 mitting acts of genocide against the Ukrainian peo4 ple; 

5 (2) calls on the United States, in cooperation 

6 with allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza7 tion and the European Union, to undertake meas8 ures to support the Government of Ukraine to pre9 vent further acts of Russian genocide against the 

10 Ukrainian people; and 

11 (3) supports tribunals and international crimi12 nal investigations to hold Russian political leaders 

13 and military personnel to account for a war of agVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:27 Jul 21, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR713.IS SR713

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•SRES 713 IS 

1 gression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 

2 genocide. 

Æ 


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