IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 474 

Condemning the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 

Europe to restore full rights to Russia within the Council. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 2, 2019 

Ms. KAPTUR (for herself, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. QUIGLEY, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, 

Oversight and Reform, Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a 

period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of 

the Council of Europe to restore full rights to Russia 

within the Council. 

Whereas, in February 2014, in direct opposition to international law, Russian troops and other officials began entering the Crimean Peninsula and occupying military and 

government infrastructure; 

Whereas, in March 2014, the Parliament of Russia approved 

the deployment of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory; 

Whereas, in April 2014, in response to the occupation, the 

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 


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•HRES 474 IH 

(PACE) declared that the annexation of Crimea by Russia violated the Statute of the Council of Europe and 

Russia’s commitments to the Council; 

Whereas PACE ratified Resolution 1990 (2014), which included a motion suspending Russia’s voting rights, the 

right to be represented in the PACE’s leading bodies, 

and the right to participate in election observation missions; 

Whereas Russia’s occupation of Crimea in Ukraine has been 

widely condemned by the international community as a 

direct violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine; 

Whereas, on March 27, 2014, the United Nations General 

Assembly adopted Resolution 68/292 which called for 

states and international organizations to continue to recognize Crimea as a part of Ukraine; 

Whereas through Resolution 2034 (2015), PACE urged the 

Russian authorities to reverse the illegal annexation of 

Crimea, investigate allegations of human rights abuses, 

disband all paramilitary within the region, and reverse 

the closure of the Crimean Tatar television channel, 

ATR; 

Whereas PACE stated that ‘‘The Assembly reserves the right 

to annul the credentials of the Russian delegation, if the 

Russian Federation does not de-escalate the situation and 

reverse the annexation of Crimea.’’; 

Whereas, since 2014, Russia has continued to engage in acts 

of intimidation and direct violation of international law; 

Whereas, since 2014, Russia has been in direct violation of 

its obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in 

using threat and force against the territorial integrity of 

Ukraine; 


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•HRES 474 IH 

Whereas, since 2014, Russia has been in direct violation of 

its obligations under the Helsinki Final Act with respect 

to its violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity; 

Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission has reported human rights violations in Crimea 

against the Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians, and nonRussian Orthodox religious minorities; 

Whereas, in November 2018, Russian warships fired on and 

seized Ukrainian naval ships near the Crimean Peninsula 

in the Kerch Strait and captured 24 Ukrainian sailors; 

Whereas, in May 2019, the United Nations Tribunal for the 

Law of the Sea declared that Russian authorities must 

release the detained Ukrainian sailors by June 25, 2019; 

Whereas, by June 26, 2019, Russia had yet to release the 24 

detained sailors; and 

Whereas despite the lack of action taken by Russia to remove 

troops from Crimea, release the detained sailors, and restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the Council of Europe reinstated full rights in the Council to Russia in a 

vote 118 in favor and 62 against: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) reiterates its support for the territorial in3 tegrity of Ukraine and recognition of Crimea as a 

4 part of Ukraine; 

5 (2) reaffirms the support of the United States 

6 for the sovereignty of Ukraine; 

7 (3) reaffirms the commitment of the United 

8 States to ensure that democratic principles, the rule 


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•HRES 474 IH 

1 of law, and human rights protections are upheld in 

2 the illegally occupied territory of Crimea; 

3 (4) condemns all human rights and territorial 

4 violations carried out by Russia with respect to Cri5 mea; 

6 (5) condemns Russia’s violations of its obliga7 tions under international agreements with respect to 

8 sovereignty of nations and the protection of human 

9 rights; 

10 (6) condemns PACE’s decision to restore full 

11 rights to Russia in the Council of Europe, despite 

12 continued violations of international law with re13 gards to Crimea; 

14 (7) calls on PACE to hold Russia to the stand15 ards set forth in the Statute of the Council of Eu16 rope; 

17 (8) welcomes the sanctions that have been im18 posed on Russia by the United States and our Euro19 pean Union allies; 

20 (9) calls on the Government of the United 

21 States to continue to issue sanctions which are set 

22 forth under the Countering America’s Adversaries 

23 Through Sanctions Act of 2017 (Public Law 115– 

24 44), as well as sanctions under the Sergei Magnitsky 

25 Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 and the 


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•HRES 474 IH 

1 Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 

2 (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 

3 U.S.C. 2656 note); and 

4 (10) calls for the United States and the Euro5 pean Union to impose additional sanctions on Russia 

6 if on the 1-year anniversary of Russia’s aggression 

7 near the Kerch Strait, the Ukrainian ships and the 

8 detained sailors are still in Russian custody. 

Æ 


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