IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1517 
Finding that the Russian Federation’s presence in the United Nations 
Security Council violates the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 13, 2022 
Mr. COHEN (for himself and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Finding that the Russian Federation’s presence in the United 
Nations Security Council violates the purposes and prin-
ciples of the United Nations. 
Whereas the Russian Federation has carried out an illegal, 
premeditated, unprovoked, and brutal war against 
Ukraine; 
Whereas the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine 
has perpetrated heinous atrocities against unarmed civil-
ians, including pillage, torture, rape, summary execu-
tions, the destruction of entire cities, and other crimes, 
including crimes targeting women and children; 
Whereas the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine 
has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons; 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
Whereas the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine 
has forcibly occupied and taken deliberate actions that 
threaten to destroy civilian nuclear power stations, facili-
ties the destruction of which would place millions of peo-
ple in Ukraine and in other nations at risk; 
Whereas the Russian Federation has carried out illegal so- 
called referendums in Ukraine and adopted legislation 
purporting to annex regions, notwithstanding that the 
overwhelming majority of nations unambiguously recog-
nize, and the Russian Federation itself had unambig-
uously recognized, that those regions are sovereign terri-
tory of Ukraine; 
Whereas the Russian Federation has indicated its intention 
to destroy Ukraine as a nation and has used rhetoric call-
ing for further illegal purported annexations and violence 
against other nations; 
Whereas the Russian Federation, under the Memorandum on 
Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Acces-
sion to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear 
Weapons signed at Budapest on December 7, 1994 (here-
inafter ‘‘Budapest Memorandum’’), reaffirmed in accord-
ance with the principles of the Final Act of the Con-
ference on Security and Cooperation in Europe its com-
mitments ‘‘to respect the independence and sovereignty 
and the existing borders of Ukraine’’ and ‘‘to refrain 
from the threat or use of force against the territorial in-
tegrity or political independence of Ukraine’’; 
Whereas Ukraine, under the Budapest Memorandum in ex-
change for the Russian Federation’s commitments, volun-
tarily relinquished the nuclear weapons in its territory 
and acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of 
Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear-weapon State; 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
Whereas the Russian Federation’s flagrant violations of its 
commitments under the Budapest Memorandum set a 
dangerous example, injurious to future efforts to promote 
nuclear arms control and nonproliferation; 
Whereas the Russian Federation, notwithstanding the com-
mitment it made under the Initiative on the Safe Trans-
portation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports 
adopted upon the proposal of the United Nations Sec-
retary-General on July 22, 2022, to enable the resump-
tion of exports of Ukrainian grain, other foodstuffs, and 
fertilizer through a safe maritime humanitarian corridor, 
repeatedly threatens to obstruct that corridor and the se-
curity of the world’s food supply; 
Whereas the purposes of the United Nations (hereinafter 
‘‘UN’’) include— 
(1) to maintain international peace and security, and 
to that end: to take effective collective measures for the 
prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for 
the suppression of acts of aggression, and to bring about 
by peaceful means adjustment or settlement of inter-
national disputes or situations which might lead to a 
breach of the peace; 
(2) to develop friendly relations among nations 
based on respect for the principle of equal rights and 
self-determination of peoples, and to take other appro-
priate measures to strengthen universal peace; and 
(3) to achieve international cooperation in promoting 
and encouraging respect for human rights and for funda-
mental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, 
sex, language, or religion; 
Whereas the principles of the UN include— 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
(1) respect for the sovereign equality of all UN 
Members; 
(2) good faith in the fulfilment of all obligations 
under the Charter of the United Nations (hereinafter 
‘‘UN Charter’’); 
(3) peaceful settlement of international disputes; and 
(4) refraining from the threat or use of force against 
the territorial integrity or political independence of any 
State; 
Whereas Article 4 of the UN Charter opens the UN only to 
countries that are peace-loving; 
Whereas Article 6 of the UN Charter allows the UN upon 
two-thirds vote of the UN General Assembly and rec-
ommendation of the UN Security Council to expel a 
member that has persistently violated the principles of 
the UN Charter; 
Whereas international aggression is a fundamental violation 
of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; 
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly (hereinafter 
the ‘‘UN General Assembly’’) meeting in Emergency Spe-
cial Session has acknowledged by overwhelming majori-
ties that— 
(1) the Russian Federation’s conduct constitutes ag-
gression against Ukraine; 
(2) the Russian Federation’s aggression against 
Ukraine is the cause of a dire humanitarian crisis on a 
scale not seen in Europe in decades; and 
(3) the illegal so-called referendums organized by the 
Russian Federation in regions of Ukraine have no valid-
ity under international law and form no basis for any al-
teration of the status of any region of Ukraine; 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
Whereas the Russian Federation has ignored its responsi-
bility to observe and implement determinations by UN 
organs and officials, including determinations by— 
(1) the UN General Assembly, which has demanded 
repeatedly that the Russian Federation immediately, 
completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its mili-
tary forces from the territory of Ukraine within 
Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders; 
(2) the UN Human Rights Council, which has called 
upon the Russian Federation to immediately end its 
human rights violations and abuses and violations of 
international humanitarian law committed in the course 
of its aggression against Ukraine; 
(3) the International Court of Justice, which has or-
dered that the Russian Federation shall immediately sus-
pend all military operations against Ukraine, including 
the military operations that the Russian Federation com-
menced on February 24, 2022, and refrain from actions 
violating the human rights of the Crimean Tatar and 
Ukrainian communities in the Crimean region of 
Ukraine, which region the Russian Federation has ille-
gally occupied by force since 2014 and illegally purports 
to have annexed; 
(4) the President of the UN Security Council, who 
has condemned the continuous violations of the earlier 
cease-fire regime under the Minsk Agreements and has 
called on the Russian Federation to facilitate the work of 
the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine; 
and 
(5) the UN Secretary-General, who has called on the 
Russian Federation to stop its military offensive against 
Ukraine and who has declared that Russia’s illegal pur-
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•HRES 1517 IH 
ported annexation of territory in Ukraine ‘‘flouts the 
Purposes and Principles of the United Nations’’; 
Whereas the Russian Federation’s repeated threats to use 
nuclear weapons and rhetoric about raising its nuclear 
alert levels are inconsistent with and in flagrant dis-
regard of the Joint Statement on Preventing Nuclear 
War and Avoiding Arms Races that the Russian Federa-
tion, along with the other four permanent members of the 
UN Security Council, adopted in 2022; 
Whereas the Russian Federation has abused the power of the 
veto that it holds in the UN Security Council under Arti-
cle 23, paragraph 1, of the UN Charter, including by ex-
ercising the veto in order to prevent the Security Council 
from taking necessary actions and reaching appropriate 
determinations in regard to the Russian Federation’s ag-
gression against Ukraine; 
Whereas the Russian Federation further has abused the pro-
cedures of the Security Council, including— 
(1) by attempting to prevent senior representatives 
of Ukraine from addressing the Security Council; 
(2) by exploiting the Security Council as a venue in 
which to make patently false accusations, including false 
accusations that Ukraine has committed genocide against 
Russians, that the President of Ukraine is a Nazi, and 
that Ukraine is preparing a nuclear attack; 
(3) by advancing a draft resolution that would at-
tempt to portray Ukraine as responsible for the humani-
tarian disaster resulting from the Russian Federation’s 
aggression, a draft resolution having no purpose except 
to obstruct the orderly conduct of Security Council pro-
ceedings and distract attention from the Russian Federa-
tion’s aggression; 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
(4) by lodging repeated complaints in the Security 
Council under Article VI of the Biological Weapons Con-
vention (hereinafter the ‘‘BWC’’) falsely accusing 
Ukraine of hosting biological weapons programs involving 
birds, bats, and mosquitoes and providing no evidence to 
support its complaints, while ignoring statements by the 
UN Office for Disarmament Affairs that that Office is 
unaware of any biological weapons programs in Ukraine, 
ignoring that consultations with 89 countries convened 
under the BWC did not find any BWC violations in 
Ukraine, and ignoring the damage that the Russian Fed-
eration’s baseless allegations have done to multilateral co-
operation under the BWC; 
(5) by demanding that the Security Council convene 
in order to entertain the Russian Federation’s patently 
false and abusive claim that the atrocities that the Rus-
sian Federation committed at Bucha in Ukraine, which 
numbered among the worst atrocities up to that time in 
the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine, 
were the result of a ‘‘provocation’’ by ‘‘Ukrainian radi-
cals’’; 
(6) by issuing false and groundless procedural com-
plaints in the Security Council, including false accusa-
tions against the President of the Security Council that 
that Security Council officer had prevented the Russian 
Federation from making the claim that atrocities at 
Bucha were ‘‘provoked’’, despite the clear and unambig-
uous indication in the verbatim record that the President 
in fact had given the Russian Federation more than one 
opportunity in which to make that claim notwithstanding 
its falsity and the Russian Federation’s abusive purpose 
in making it; and 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
(7) by demanding further Security Council meetings 
in order to continue to abuse that UN organ by issuing 
from a permanent member’s seat blatantly false accusa-
tions, including accusations that it is Ukraine, not the 
Russian Federation, that is responsible for the Russian 
Federation’s atrocities and aggression; 
Whereas nations in international organizations, in light of the 
Russian Federation’s egregious violations of international 
law, have taken steps to protect the integrity of those or-
ganizations and their procedures and to hold the Russian 
Federation to account, including in— 
(1) the UN General Assembly, which by Resolution 
ES–11/3 of April 7, 2022, suspended the Russian Fed-
eration from the UN Human Rights Council; 
(2) the International Civil Aviation Organization, 
which on October 4, 2022, voted not to reelect the Rus-
sian Federation to that organization’s Governing Council; 
(3) the Danube Commission, which by Decision of 
its 12th Extraordinary Session, on March 17, 2022, de-
clined to accept the credentials of the Russian Federation 
and excluded those representatives from participation in 
all meetings of the Danube Commission and its working 
bodies until cessation of the Russian Federation’s aggres-
sion against Ukraine; 
(4) the Permanent Council of the Organization of 
American States, which by Resolution CP/RES.1195 
(2374/22) of April 21, 2022, suspended the Russian Fed-
eration’s status as a Permanent Observer of the Organi-
zation of American States; 
(5) the UN World Tourism Organization, which by 
Resolution of April 27, 2022, suspended the Russian 
Federation’s membership in that organization; 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
(6) the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Eu-
rope, which by Decision of February 25, 2022, suspended 
the Russian Federation from its rights of representation 
in the Council of Europe and by Decision of March 16, 
2022, declared that the Russian Federation has ceased to 
be a member of the Council of Europe; and 
(7) the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 
Europe, which by Resolution 2463 (2022) of October 13, 
2022, resolved that the Russian Federation’s threats to 
use nuclear weapons and threats to use civilian nuclear 
power facilities as weapons are incompatible with the re-
sponsibilities of a country holding a permanent seat on 
the UN Security Council; 
Whereas the Security Council is the principal organ of the 
UN having primary responsibility for the maintenance of 
international peace and security; and 
Whereas the Russian Federation, notwithstanding its war of 
aggression against Ukraine, the heinous atrocities it has 
committed, its nuclear threats, its threats to the world 
food supply, the further threats to international peace 
and security it makes through baseless territorial claims 
against Ukraine and other countries, its abuse of the 
rights and privileges of permanent membership in the 
UN Security Council, and the flagrant violations of the 
purposes and principles of the UN that these actions of 
the Russian Federation entail, has continued to sit in the 
seat of a permanent member of the Security Council 
under Article 23, paragraph 1, of the UN Charter and 
to exercise other rights and privileges in UN organs and 
specialized agencies: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
(1) finds that the Russian Federation has re-
peatedly, deliberately, and flagrantly violated the 
purposes and principles of the United Nations; 
(2) finds that the continued exercise of rights 
and privileges by the Russian Federation in the Se-
curity Council of the United Nations under United 
Nations Charter Article 23, paragraph 1, further 
violates the purposes and principles of the United 
Nations and is contrary to the interests of the 
United States in the maintenance of international 
peace and security; 
(3) finds that the participation and membership 
of the Russian Federation in other organs and spe-
cialized agencies of the United Nations violates the 
purposes and principles of the United Nations and 
is contrary to the interests of the United States; 
(4) urges the President of the United States— 
(A) to direct the Department of State and 
other relevant Federal departments and agen-
cies to pursue all appropriate steps with Allies, 
partners, and other countries to limit, suspend, 
or terminate rights and privileges that the Rus-
sian Federation exercises in the Security Coun-
cil of the United Nations under United Nations 
Charter Article 23, paragraph 1; and 
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•HRES 1517 IH 
(B) to direct the Department of State and 
other relevant Federal departments and agen-
cies to pursue all appropriate steps with Allies, 
partners, and other countries to limit, suspend, 
or terminate the participation or membership of 
the Russian Federation in other organs and 
specialized agencies of the United Nations; and 
(5) supports the deployment by the United 
States of all necessary diplomatic and other re-
sources to ensure the success of the steps that it 
herein urges the President to direct. 
Æ 
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