IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 677 
Condemning the Government of the Russian Federation for exacerbating 
global food insecurity through its illegal, unprovoked full-scale invasion 
of Ukraine. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2023 
Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. KEAN of New Jersey, Mr. KEATING, and Mr. 
FITZPATRICK) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the Government of the Russian Federation for 
exacerbating global food insecurity through its illegal, 
unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 
Whereas Ukraine has historically been a significant supplier 
of agricultural products for global markets, providing 
food for nearly 400 million people around the world, is 
the world’s fifth largest exporter of wheat, and provides 
over 11 percent of cereals to the world; 
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation 
launched an unprovoked, full-scale invasion of the sov-
ereign country of Ukraine; 
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•HRES 677 IH 
Whereas throughout the invasion, the Russian Federation has 
consistently mined Ukrainian farmland and bombed grain 
silos; 
Whereas, beginning on that date, the Russian Federation im-
plemented an illegal naval blockade of Ukrainian ports in 
the Black Sea, disrupting Ukraine’s food exports, driving 
up global food prices and exacerbating global food insecu-
rity; 
Whereas given many developing countries’ pre-war reliance 
on Ukrainian foodstuffs, the Russian Federation’s illegal 
blockade of Ukrainian ports disproportionately harmed 
millions of people who were already struggling with food 
insecurity before the war; 
Whereas, in May 2022, the European Union established and 
provided significant investment for Solidarity Lanes as 
road, rail, and inland waterway alternatives to facilitate 
the export of Ukrainian agricultural and nonagricultural 
products to global markets despite the Russian Federa-
tion’s illegal naval blockade of Ukraine; 
Whereas Ukrainian ports along the Danube River serve as an 
important alternative route for the export of Ukrainian 
goods, and are now a critical Black Sea shipping outlet 
for millions of tons of Ukrainian grain, but cannot ac-
commodate all the grain previously transported from 
Black Sea ports; 
Whereas the Ukrainian Danube River ports have repeatedly 
been struck by Russian attacks following the Russian 
Federation’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initia-
tive, destroying thousands of tons of grain and damaging 
necessary port infrastructure; 
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•HRES 677 IH 
Whereas, on July 27, 2022, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, 
Turkey, and the United Nations launched the Black Sea 
Grain Initiative ‘‘to ensure the safe passage of commer-
cial vessels carrying grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers, in-
cluding ammonia, in and out of three Ukrainian ports; 
Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny (Pivdennyi)’’; 
Whereas under this initiative, teams of Ukrainian, Russian, 
Turkish, and United Nations officials inspected cargo 
ships inbound to or outbound from Ukrainian ports and 
traveling along a specified humanitarian corridor; 
Whereas until the Russian Federation suspended its partici-
pation, the Black Sea Grain Initiative facilitated the ex-
port of nearly 33 million metric tons of grain; 
Whereas, during the period in which the Black Sea Grain Ini-
tiative was active, the Russian Federation reportedly de-
layed inspections of eligible vessels, reducing the amount 
of agricultural products that were exported from Ukraine 
to millions of people who relied on them; 
Whereas, on July 17, 2023, the Russian Federation sus-
pended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative 
and soon thereafter announced that it would consider ci-
vilian vessels traveling in the Black Sea to be valid mili-
tary targets; 
Whereas despite the Kremlin’s claims to the contrary in justi-
fying its decision to suspend the Black Sea Grain Initia-
tive, Russia is making significant profits from its grain 
exports; 
Whereas the Russian Federation defended its suspension of 
participation in the initiative by falsely claiming that 
Western sanctions enacted against it in response to its 
invasion of Ukraine prohibited exports of Russian agri-
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•HRES 677 IH 
cultural products to the world, despite longstanding hu-
manitarian carve-outs in European Union and United 
States sanctions regimes; 
Whereas, since suspending its participation in the Black Sea 
Grain Initiative, the Russian Federation has launched 
missile and drone strikes against ports previously in-
volved in the Initiative such as Odesa and Mykolaiv, in 
addition to inland ports on the Danube River, damaging 
port and grain processing infrastructure, at least 5 civil-
ian vessels, and destroying more than 180,000 tons of 
grain; and 
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 2417 
(2018), to which the Russian Federation agreed, calls 
‘‘on all parties to armed conflict to comply with their ob-
ligations under international humanitarian law regarding 
. . . taking constant care to spare civilian objects, includ-
ing objects necessary for food production and distribu-
tion’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the Russian Federation for sus-
pending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Ini-
tiative; 
(2) calls on the Russian Federation to imme-
diately resume participation in the Black Sea Grain 
Initiative or pledge noninterference for commercial 
grain shipping in the Black Sea without any pre-
conditions to avoid a global food crisis, and demands 
the Russian Federation ceases the targeting of 
Ukrainian grain storage and port facilities; 
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•HRES 677 IH 
(3) affirms that the Russian Federation’s 
unprovoked full-scale invasion and illegal naval 
blockade of Ukraine are to blame for rising global 
food insecurity, and affirms that civilian vessels are 
not targets of war; 
(4) 
considers 
the 
Russian 
Federation’s 
weaponization of hunger to be a deliberate element 
of its strategy to coerce Ukraine into agreeing to an 
unfavorable negotiated settlement to the war; 
(5) believes rising global food insecurity wors-
ened by the Russian Federation’s unprovoked full- 
scale invasion and illegal naval blockade of Ukraine 
threatens United States national security; 
(6) commends the European Union’s Solidarity 
Lanes for being excellent examples of the benefits of 
burden sharing in tackling shared challenges; 
(7) supports any other efforts to work with like- 
minded allies and partners to meet the food needs 
of countries most impacted by food insecurity arising 
from the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine; 
and 
(8) expresses solidarity with all people affected 
by food insecurity resulting from the Russian Fed-
eration’s war against Ukraine. 
Æ 
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