IA 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. J. RES. 139 
Providing for the designation of a ‘‘Freedom to Choose their Destiny for 
the Nations of Eastern Europe and Eurasia Week’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 
Ms. KAPTUR (for herself, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. LEVIN) 
submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
Providing for the designation of a ‘‘Freedom to Choose their 
Destiny for the Nations of Eastern Europe and Eurasia 
Week’’. 
Whereas the United States has through democratic process 
dedicated itself to achieve a harmonious national unity of 
its people even though they stem from the most diverse 
of racial, religious, and ethnic backgrounds; 
Whereas this largely successful, but imperfect and ongoing, 
effort has led the people of the United States to possess 
a warm understanding and sympathy for the aspirations 
of peoples everywhere and to recognize the natural inter-
dependence of the peoples and nations of the world; 
Whereas in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the United States, 
the former Soviet Union and 33 other nations endorsed 
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•HJ 139 IH 
ten principles, which ‘‘all are of primary significance, 
guiding their mutual relations’’, which include— 
(1) sovereign equality, respect for the rights inherent 
in sovereignty; 
(2) refraining from the threat or use of force; 
(3) inviolability of frontiers; 
(4) territorial integrity of states; 
(5) peaceful settlement of disputes; 
(6) non-intervention in internal affairs; 
(7) respect for human rights and fundamental free-
doms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, reli-
gion or belief; 
(8) equal rights and self-determination of peoples; 
(9) co-operation among states; and 
(10) fulfilment in good faith of obligations under 
international law; 
Whereas President George H.W. Bush called for a Europe 
whole and free in 1989, a goal supported by all subse-
quent Administrations, Republican and Democratic; 
Whereas the Heads of States and Governments of the partici-
pating States of the Conference on Security and Co-oper-
ation in Europe (CSCE) issued the Paris Charter in 
1990 affirming that ‘‘the Ten Principles of the Final Act 
will guide us towards . . . (an) ambitious future, just as 
they have lighted our way towards better relations for the 
past fifteen years. Full implementation of all CSCE com-
mitments must form the basis for the initiatives we are 
now taking to enable our nations to live in accordance 
with their aspirations.’’; 
Whereas the Government of Russia voluntarily signed the 
Belovezha Accords, which led to the dissolution of the So-
viet Union and the recognition as interstate borders of 
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•HJ 139 IH 
the administrative boundaries among the former repub-
lics of the Soviet Union; 
Whereas the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the emer-
gence of 15 independent nations: Armenia, Azerbaijan, 
Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lat-
via, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenis-
tan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan; 
Whereas all of these nations are heir to the promise and prin-
ciples of the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter; 
Whereas Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania availed themselves of 
these principles and joined both the European Union and 
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as did Bulgaria, 
Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, 
Slovakia, and Slovenia; 
Whereas this development has created historically unprece-
dented peace and prosperity in Central and Eastern Eu-
rope; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has vio-
lated the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the 
Paris Charter in a clear, gross and thus far uncorrected 
manner, and is in violation of its international obligations 
to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial 
integrity of all its neighbors; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has vio-
lated its obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memo-
randum, which provided security assurances to Ukraine 
relating to Kyiv giving up its nuclear weapons; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has as-
serted the purported right to a ‘‘sphere of influence’’ in 
at least the territory of the former Soviet Union; 
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•HJ 139 IH 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has as-
serted the purported right and duty to ‘‘protect’’ ethnic 
Russians, Russian speakers, and Russian citizens wher-
ever they may live, and whether or not they seek such 
‘‘protection’’; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has ac-
tively provided Russian passports and Russian citizenship 
to people living in nearby countries and particularly to 
those living in areas that have been the sites of tension 
or war in the post-Soviet space: Abkhazia, Crimea, 
Transnistria, and the Tskhinvali Region (South Ossetia); 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has ex-
ploited alleged violations of the rights of ethnic Russians 
and Russian speakers to justify wars of aggression 
against Georgia and Ukraine; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has em-
ployed military intimidation, cyber-attacks, outright inva-
sion, occupation, and illegal annexation to hold hostage 
the aspirations of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in par-
ticular; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has em-
ployed tools of cyber warfare, hybrid warfare, and 
disinformation in its aggression in Ukraine and Georgia, 
and in other sovereign nations, in order to exert influence 
while obfuscating the reality of these conflicts; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has ex-
ploited alleged violations of the rights of ethnic Russians 
and Russian speakers to exert pressure on the govern-
ments of many of the states achieving independence since 
the fall of the Soviet Union; 
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•HJ 139 IH 
Whereas the stability and prosperity that have emerged in 
Europe since the end of the Cold War contribute to the 
security and prosperity of the United States; 
Whereas the United States has always been the well-wisher 
and supporter of European nations demanding freedom 
and the right to choose their own futures; 
Whereas many of the people of these nations that emerged 
from the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the demise 
of the Soviet Empire have looked to the United States, 
the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ganization as exemplars and natural allies; and 
Whereas, as was done in the designation of ‘‘Captive Nations 
Week’’ beginning in 1953 and then declared by a Con-
gressional resolution and signed into law (Public Law 
86–90) in 1959, it is fitting that the United States clear-
ly manifest to such peoples, through an appropriate and 
official means, the historic fact that the people of the 
United States share with them their aspirations to choose 
their own future consistent with the Helsinki Final Act 
and the Paris Charter: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
That— 
(1) Congress condemns the clear, gross, and 
uncorrected violation of principles of the Helsinki 
Final Act, the Paris Charter, and other international 
agreements and norms by the Russian Federation in 
its relations with Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine in 
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•HJ 139 IH 
particular, including the flagrant violation of their 
sovereignty and territorial integrity; 
(2) the President is authorized and requested to 
issue a proclamation designating a ‘‘Freedom to 
Choose their Destiny for the Nations of Eastern Eu-
rope and Eurasia Week’’ and inviting the people of 
the United States to observe such week with appro-
priate ceremonies and activities; 
(3) the President is further authorized and re-
quested to issue a similar proclamation each year 
until such time as the nations of Eastern Europe 
and Eurasia are free to exercise their sovereign 
rights without outside interference; and 
(4) the President is further authorized and re-
quested to develop policies designed to support the 
efforts of these nations to determine their own fu-
tures, including policies to help these nations 
strengthen domestic vulnerabilities and impose pen-
alties on those violating their sovereignty and terri-
torial integrity. 
Æ 
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