I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2121
To make available funds under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to expand
democracy, good governance, and anti-corruption programs in the Rus-
sian Federation in order to promote and strengthen democratic govern-
ment and civil society in that country and to support independent media.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 12, 2001
Mr. LANTOS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To make available funds under the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961 to expand democracy, good governance, and
anti-corruption programs in the Russian Federation in
order to promote and strengthen democratic government
and civil society in that country and to support inde-
pendent media.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Russian Democracy
Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings:
(1) Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union,
the leadership of the Russian Federation has pub-
licly committed itself to building—
(A) a society with democratic political in-
stitutions and practices, observance of univer-
sally recognized standards of human rights and
religious and press freedom; and
(B) a market economy, based on inter-
nationally accepted principles of transparency,
accountability, and the rule of law.
(2) In order to facilitate this transition, the
international community provided multilateral and
bilateral technical assistance, and the United States
contributions to these efforts played an important
role in influencing the Government of the Russian
Federation 
to 
abandon 
expansionist 
and
confrontational policies of the former Soviet Union
and start developing new institutions built on demo-
cratic and liberal economic foundations and the rule
of law.
(3)(A) Since 1992, United States Government
democratic reform programs and public diplomacy
programs, including training, small grants, and tech-
nical assistance to independent television, radio, and
print media across the Russian Federation, has
strengthened nongovernment-owned media, provided
access to and training in the use of the Internet,
brought nearly 40,000 Russian citizens to the
United States and has led to the establishment of
over 65,000 nongovernmental organizations, thou-
sands of vibrant independent media outlets and nu-
merous political parties.
(B) These efforts also contributed to the con-
duct of substantially free and fair Russian par-
liamentary elections in 1995 and 1999 and Presi-
dential elections in 1996 and 2000.
(4) The United States has also assisted Russian
efforts to dismantle its centrally planned state-con-
trolled economy and helped create institutions and
infrastructure for a market economy by encouraging
transparent privatization of state-owned enterprises,
and two-thirds of the Russian Federation’s domestic
product is now generated by the private sector.
(5)(A) The United States fostered grassroots
entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation by fo-
cusing United States economic assistance on small-
and medium-sized businesses and by providing train-
ing, consulting services, and small loans to more
than 250,000 Russian entrepreneurs.
(B) There are now more than 900,000 small
businesses in the Russian Federation, producing 12–
15 percent of the gross domestic product of the Rus-
sian Federation.
(C) United States-funded programs help to
fight corruption and financial crimes, such as money
laundering, by helping to establish a commercial
legal infrastructure, develop an independent judici-
ary, support the drafting of a new criminal code,
civil code, and bankruptcy law, develop legal and
regulatory framework for the Russian Federation’s
equivalent of the United States Securities and Ex-
change Commission, support Russian law schools,
create legal aid clinics, and bolster law-related activi-
ties of nongovernmental organizations.
(6)(A) Despite these successes, political and
economic freedoms in the Russian Federation re-
main tenuous. Since the election of President Putin
in May 2000, the Government of the Russian Fed-
eration has launched administrative and political re-
forms that run counter to the democratic achieve-
ments of the past 8 years, restrict political plurality,
threaten the nongovernmental sector, and call into
question the Government’s commitment to freedom
of the press, including the concerted campaign by
Russian authorities against independent television
station NTV and its founder, Vladimir Guzinsky.
(B) The Department of State’s Country Re-
ports on Human Rights Practices for 2000 con-
cluded that during 2000 ‘‘the [Russian Federation]
Government’s record on media freedom worsened
and significant problems persist’’ and that ‘‘[t]here
was persistent evidence of government pressure on
the media.’’.
(7)(A) Furthermore, despite the Russian eco-
nomic recovery of 1999 and 2000 due to higher oil
prices and due in part because of the failure of
President Putin to carry through with his promise to
implement genuine economic reform, except for the
approval of important tax code reform legislation,
the Russian economy also remains highly resistant
to reform and continues to be plagued with corrup-
tion and organized crime.
(B) This corruption and crime is estimated to
cost the Russian economy $15,000,000,000 annu-
ally, and the Government of the Russian Federation
has not yet genuinely addressed the problems of
crime, corruption, violation of property and investor