II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4134 

To direct the President to submit to Congress a report on United States 

Government efforts to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and information related to war crimes and other atrocities committed during 

the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 4, 2022 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. KING, 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. PETERS, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. SCOTT of 

Florida, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BOOZMAN, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To direct the President to submit to Congress a report 

on United States Government efforts to collect, analyze, 

and preserve evidence and information related to war 

crimes and other atrocities committed during the fullscale Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 

2022, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4134 IS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ukraine Invasion War 

3 Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that— 

6 (1) in its premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified, 

7 and unlawful full-scale invasion of Ukraine that 

8 commenced on February 24, 2022, the military of 

9 the Government of the Russian Federation under 

10 the direction of President Vladimir Putin has com11 mitted war crimes that include— 

12 (A) the deliberate targeting of civilians and 

13 injuring or killing of noncombatants; 

14 (B) the deliberate targeting and attacking 

15 of hospitals, schools, and other non-military 

16 buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or 

17 charitable purposes, such as the bombing of a 

18 theater in Mariupol that served as a shelter for 

19 noncombatants and had the word ‘‘children’’ 

20 written clearly in the Russian language outside; 

21 (C) the indiscriminate bombardment of 

22 undefended dwellings and buildings; 

23 (D) the wanton destruction of property not 

24 justified by military necessity; 

25 (E) unlawful civilian deportations; 

26 (F) the taking of hostages; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4134 IS

1 (G) rape, or sexual assault or abuse; 

2 (2) the use of chemical weapons by the Govern3 ment of the Russian Federation in Ukraine would 

4 constitute a war crime, and engaging in any military 

5 preparations to use chemical weapons or to develop, 

6 produce, stockpile, or retain chemical weapons is 

7 prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention, to 

8 which the Russian Federation is a signatory; 

9 (3) Vladimir Putin has a long record of com10 mitting acts of aggression, systematic abuses of 

11 human rights, and acts that constitute war crimes or 

12 other atrocities both at home and abroad, and the 

13 brutality and scale of these actions, including in the 

14 Russian Federation republic of Chechnya, Georgia, 

15 Syria, and Ukraine, demonstrate the extent to which 

16 his regime is willing to flout international norms and 

17 values in the pursuit of its objectives; 

18 (4) Vladimir Putin has previously sanctioned 

19 the use of chemical weapons at home and abroad, in20 cluding in the poisonings of Russian spy turned dou21 ble agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia and 

22 leading Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny, 

23 and aided and abetted the use of chemical weapons 

24 by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4134 IS

1 (5) in 2014, the Government of the Russian 

2 Federation initiated its unprovoked war of aggres3 sion against Ukraine which resulted in its illegal oc4 cupation of Crimea, the unrecognized declaration of 

5 independence by the so-called ‘‘Donetsk People’s Re6 public’’ and ‘‘Luhansk People’s Republic’’ by Rus7 sia-backed proxies, and numerous human rights vio8 lations and deaths of civilians in Ukraine. 

9 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

10 It is the policy of the United States— 

11 (1) to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence 

12 and information related to war crimes and other 

13 atrocities committed during the full-scale Russian 

14 invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, 

15 2022, for use in appropriate domestic, foreign, and 

16 international courts and tribunals prosecuting those 

17 responsible for such crimes; 

18 (2) to help deter the commission of war crimes 

19 and other atrocities in Ukraine by publicizing to the 

20 maximum possible extent, including among Russian 

21 and other foreign military commanders and troops 

22 in Ukraine, efforts to identify and prosecute those 

23 responsible for the commission of war crimes during 

24 the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that 

25 began on February 24, 2022; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4134 IS

1 (3) to continue efforts to identify, deter, and 

2 pursue accountability for war crimes and other 

3 atrocities committed around the world and by other 

4 perpetrators, and to leverage international coopera5 tion and best practices in this regard with respect to 

6 the current situation in Ukraine. 

7 SEC. 4. REPORT ON UNITED STATES EFFORTS. 

8 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact9 ment of this Act, and consistent with the protection of 

10 intelligence sources and methods, the President shall sub11 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a report, 

12 which may include a classified annex, describing in detail 

13 the following: 

14 (1) United States Government efforts to collect, 

15 analyze, and preserve evidence and information re16 lated to war crimes and other atrocities committed 

17 during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine 

18 since February 24, 2022, including a description 

19 of— 

20 (A) the respective roles of various agencies, 

21 departments, and offices, and the interagency 

22 mechanism established for the coordination of 

23 such efforts; 

24 (B) the types of information and evidence 

25 that are being collected, analyzed, and preVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 May 05, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4134.IS S4134

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4134 IS

1 served to help identify those responsible for the 

2 commission of war crimes or other atrocities 

3 during the full-scale Russian invasion of 

4 Ukraine in 2022; and 

5 (C) steps taken to coordinate with, and 

6 support the work of, allies, partners, inter7 national institutions and organizations, and 

8 nongovernmental organizations in such efforts. 

9 (2) Media, public diplomacy, and information 

10 operations to make Russian military commanders, 

11 troops, political leaders and the Russian people 

12 aware of efforts to identify and prosecute those re13 sponsible for the commission of war crimes or other 

14 atrocities during the full-scale Russian invasion of 

15 Ukraine in 2022, and of the types of acts that may 

16 be prosecutable. 

17 (3) The process for a domestic, foreign, or 

18 international court or tribunal to request and obtain 

19 from the United States Government information re20 lated to war crimes or other atrocities committed 

21 during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 

22 2022. 

23 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4134 IS

1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

5 the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Select 

6 Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and 

7 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

8 Committee on the Judiciary, and the Perma9 nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

10 House of Representatives. 

11 (2) ATROCITIES.—The term ‘‘atrocities’’ has 

12 the meaning given that term in section 6(2) of the 

13 Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act 

14 of 2018 (Public Law 115–441; 22 U.S.C. 2656 

15 note). 

16 (3) WAR CRIME.—The term ‘‘war crime’’ has 

17 the meaning given that term in section 2441(c) of 

18 title 18, United States Code. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS