H. Con. Res. 304
Agreed to June 23, 2000
One Hundred Sixth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand
Concurrent Resolution
Whereas the United States has a vital interest in the promotion
of democracy abroad and supports democracy and economic
development in the Republic of Belarus;
Whereas in the Fall of 1996, Belarusian President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka devised a controversial referendum to impose a new
constitution on Belarus and abolish the Parliament, the 13th
Supreme Soviet, replacing it with a rubber-stamp legislature;
Whereas President Lukashenka organized a referendum in violation
of the 1994 Belarusian Constitution, which illegally extended
his term of office to 2001;
Whereas Lukashenka’s legal term in office expired in July 1999;
Whereas Belarus has effectively become an authoritarian police
state, where human rights are routinely violated;
Whereas Belarusian economic development is stagnant and living
conditions are deplorable;
Whereas in May 1999, the Belarusian opposition challenged
Lukashenka’s unconstitutional lengthening of his term by staging
alternative presidential elections, unleashing the government
crackdown;
Whereas the leader of the opposition, Semyon Sharetsky, was forced
to flee Belarus to the neighboring Baltic state of the Republic
of Lithuania in fear for his life;
Whereas several leaders of the opposition, including Viktor Gonchar,
Anatoly Krasovsky, and Yuri Zakharenka have disappeared;
Whereas the Belarusian regime harasses and persecutes the inde-
pendent media and works to actively suppress freedom of speech;
Whereas former Prime Minister Mikhail Chygir, who was a can-
didate in the opposition’s alternative presidential elections in
May 1999, was held in pretrial detention on trumped up charges
from April through November 1999;
Whereas the Lukashenka regime provoked the clashes between
riot police and demonstrators at the October 17, 1999, ‘‘Freedom
March’’, which resulted in injuries to demonstrators and scores
of illegal arrests;
Whereas hundreds of peaceful demonstrators and over 30 journal-
ists were arrested during a March 25, 2000, pro-democracy rally
in Miensk, once again illustrating the Lukashenka regime’s dis-
regard for freedom of assembly, association, and information;
Whereas the Lukashenka regime has refused to engage in meaning-
ful dialogue with the opposition and has used the tactics of
H. Con. Res. 304—2
delay and obfuscation in disregarding the Organization for Secu-
rity and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)-mediated dialogue
process;
Whereas genuine dialogue with the opposition and legitimate, free
and fair elections cannot take place in the present climate of
repression and fear existing in Belarus;
Whereas on April 3, 1996, Russian Federation President Boris
Yeltsin and President Lukashenka signed an agreement to form
a Union State of Russia and Belarus;
Whereas there have been credible press reports that the Govern-
ment of the Russian Federation has been providing assistance
to the Lukashenka regime since the signing of the agreement
to form a Union State, such as official Russian Federation Govern-
ment credits, uncollected customs duties, assistance for export
sales of Belarusian arms and joint manufacturing of arms, and
reduced prices for energy supplies;
Whereas there has been a credible estimate cited in press reports
that Russian Federation economic subsidies to Belarus reached
$1,500,000,000 to $2,000,000,000 in 1996 and 1997 alone,
enabling the Lukashenka regime to maintain a large police force
and state control of the economy;
Whereas the Union Treaty, signed on December 8, 1999, by Belarus
and the Russian Federation, undermines Belarus sovereignty and
the prospect of democracy;
Whereas the Consultative Council of Belarusian opposition parties
appealed to the Government of the Russian Federation, the State
Duma, and the Federation Council calling for a cessation of
support for the Lukashenka regime;
Whereas the former Chairmen of the Belarusian Supreme Soviet,
Stanislav Shushkevich and Semyon Sharetsky, have stated that
economic support from the Russian Federation has been crucial
to the survival of the Lukashenka regime;
Whereas a Union Treaty between the Russian Federation and
Belarus was ratified by the Russian Parliament and the illegit-
imate parliament of Belarus;
Whereas the Union Treaty between the Russian Federation and
the Lukashenka regime violates Russian Federation Government
respect for the sovereignty of Belarus per the memorandum on
security guarantees signed by Russian Federation President Boris
Yeltsin at the December 1994 Summit of Organization for Secu-
rity and Cooperation in Europe Heads of State in Budapest,
Hungary; and
Whereas the introduction of any nuclear weapons on the territory
of Belarus, a declared non-nuclear state under the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, would be a violation
of Belarus’s obligations under that Treaty: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concur-
ring), That the Congress—
(1) condemns continued egregious violations of human
rights by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime in the
Republic of Belarus;
(2) further condemns the Lukashenka regime’s conviction
and sentencing of Andrei Klimov, Vasiliy Leonov, and Vladimir
H. Con. Res. 304—3
Koudinov on politically motivated charges and urges their
release;
(3) is gravely concerned about the disappearances of Viktor
Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky, and Yuri Zakharenka and calls
on the Lukashenka regime to ensure a full and timely investiga-
tion of these cases;
(4) calls for immediate dialogue between the Lukashenka
regime and the opposition and the restoration of a democrat-
ically elected government in Belarus;
(5) urges the Lukashenka regime to respect and ensure
the human rights of all Belarusian citizens, including those
members of the opposition who are currently being illegally
detained in violation of their constitutional rights and further
urges the regime to respect the rule of law and an independent
judiciary;
(6) further urges Lukashenka to hold legitimate, free and
fair parliamentary elections in accordance with Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) standards;
(7) supports the appeal by the Consultative Council of
Belarusian opposition parties to the Government of the Russian
Federation, the State Duma, and the Federation Council calling
for a cessation of support for the Lukashenka regime;
(8) calls on the international community to support the
opposition in Belarus by continuing to meet with the legiti-
mately elected parliament;
(9) supports Belarus’s sovereignty, independence, and terri-
torial integrity, as well as its market democratic transformation
and integration among the broader trans-Atlantic community
of nations;
(10) calls on the President of the United States—
(A) to ensure assistance to and cooperation with
Belarusian opposition figures;
(B) to ensure that adequate resources are made avail-
able on an urgent basis to support those programs aimed
at strengthening independent media, human rights, civil
society, independent trade unions, and the democratic
opposition in Belarus; and
(C) to support the free flow of information into Belarus;
(11) calls on the President of the United States to raise
the issue of financial support provided by the Russian Federa-
tion to the Lukashenka regime at the highest levels of the
Russian Federation Government;
(12) calls on the President of the United States to urge
the Government of the Russian Federation, in accordance with
its international commitments, to fully respect the sovereignty
of Belarus, particularly in light of the illegitimate nature of
the Lukashenka regime; and
(13) calls on the President of the United States to prepare
and transmit to the Congress a report on—
(A) the human rights situation, democratic process,
elections, independence of the media, and the Lukashenka
regime’s control of the economy in Belarus;
(B) the steps undertaken by the United States to per-
suade the Russian Federation Government to end support
to the Lukashenka regime in Belarus; and
H. Con. Res. 304—4
(C) the status of Russian Federation-Belarus military
integration.
Attest:
Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Attest:
Secretary of the Senate.