•HRES 116 IH 
existing borders and to refrain from the threat or use of 
force against Ukraine; 
Whereas the inclusion of the United States and the United 
Kingdom as signatories to the Budapest Memorandum 
was essential in order to provide Ukraine the security as-
surances needed to give up its nuclear arsenal; 
Whereas, on November 25, 2018, military forces of the Rus-
sian Federation attacked and seized three Ukrainian 
Navy vessels and their crews as they attempted to transit 
the Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of 
Azov; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation still has 
not released the Ukrainian crew members or returned the 
Ukrainian ships that were seized illegally; 
Whereas European Commissioner Julian King stated that the 
Government of the Russian Federation launched a 
disinformation campaign over a year ago designed to 
paint Ukraine and NATO as provocateurs in the Kerch 
Strait; 
Whereas, as part of the Russian Federation disinformation 
campaign, Russian state media outlets spread demon-
strable falsehoods, including claims that Ukraine was 
dredging the Kerch Strait seabed to facilitate the sta-
tioning of a NATO fleet, that Ukraine had intentionally 
infected the sea with cholera, and that Ukrainian and 
British clandestine services were conspiring to destroy 
the Kerch Strait bridge with a nuclear weapon; 
Whereas the United States has important national interests 
in the Black Sea region, including the security of three 
NATO littoral states, the promotion of European energy 
market diversification by ensuring unfettered European 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:53 Feb 08, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR116.IH
HR116
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 116 IH 
access to energy exporters in the Caucuses and central 
Asia, and combating use of the region by smugglers as 
a conduit for trafficking in persons, narcotics, and arms; 
Whereas the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a proposed under-
water natural gas pipeline project that would provide an 
additional 55,000,000,000 cubic meters of pipeline capac-
ity from the Russian Federation to the Federal Republic 
of Germany through the Baltic Sea; 
Whereas the Russian Federation’s state-owned oil and gas 
company, Gazprom, is the sole shareholder of the Nord 
Stream 2 project; 
Whereas, in 2017, there was spare capacity of approximately 
55,000,000,000 cubic meters in the Ukrainian gas transit 
system; 
Whereas Gazprom cut off natural gas exports to Europe via 
Ukraine in 2006, and again in 2009, over supply and 
pricing disputes with Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas 
company, Naftogaz; 
Whereas transit of Russian natural gas to Europe via 
Ukraine declined precipitously after the completion of 
Nord Stream 1 in 2011, falling from 80 percent to be-
tween 40 and 50 percent of Russia’s total exports to Eu-
rope; 
Whereas, in 2017, Russian gas accounted for 37 percent of 
Europe’s natural gas imports, an increase of 5 percent 
over 2016; 
Whereas, on December 12, 2018, the European Parliament 
overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning both the 
Russian Federation’s aggression in the Kerch Strait and 
the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:53 Feb 08, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR116.IH
HR116
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 116 IH 
Whereas, on December 11, 2018, the United States House of 
Representatives passed a resolution calling upon the Eu-
ropean Union to reject the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and 
urging the President to use all available means to pro-
mote energy policies in Europe that reduce European re-
liance on Russian energy exports: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) calls upon the President to work with 
United States allies to promptly lead a robust multi-
national freedom of navigation operation in the 
Black Sea to help demonstrate support for inter-
nationally recognized borders, bilateral agreements, 
and safe passage through the Kerch Strait and Sea 
of Azov and to push back against excessive Russian 
Federation claims of sovereignty; 
(2) calls upon the North Atlantic Treaty Orga-
nization to enhance allied maritime presence and ca-
pabilities, including maritime domain awareness and 
coastal defense in the Black Sea in order to support 
Freedom of Navigation Operations and allied inter-
ests; 
(3) urges the President to use the authority 
provided under section 1234 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 
115–91; 131 Stat. 1659) to enhance the capability 
of the Ukrainian military; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:53 Feb 08, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR116.IH
HR116
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 116 IH 
(4) urges the President, through the Depart-
ments of State and Defense, to provide additional 
security 
assistance 
to 
Ukraine, 
especially 
to 
strengthen Ukraine’s maritime capabilities, in order 
to improve deterrence and defense against further 
Russian aggression; 
(5) reiterates that the President is required by 
statute to impose mandatory sanctions on the Rus-
sian Federation under the Countering America’s Ad-
versaries Through Sanctions Act (Public Law 115– 
44); 
(6) stresses that sanctions against the Russian 
Federation are a direct result of the actions of the 
Government of the Russian Federation and will con-
tinue and increase until there is an appropriate 
change in Russian behavior; 
(7) calls upon United States allies and partners 
in Europe to deny Russian Navy vessels access to 
their ports to resupply and refuel; 
(8) notes the resolution passed by the House of 
Representatives on December 11, 2018, calling on 
European governments to cancel the Nord Stream 2 
pipeline and urging the President to support Euro-
pean energy security through a policy of reducing re-
liance on the Russian Federation; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:53 Feb 08, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR116.IH
HR116
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
•HRES 116 IH 
(9) applauds and concurs with the European 
Parliament’s December 12, 2018, resolution con-
demning Russian aggression in the Kerch Strait and 
the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, calling for the pipeline’s 
cancellation due to its threat to European energy se-
curity, and calling on the Russian Federation to 
guarantee freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait; 
and 
(10) urges the President to continue working 
with Congress and our allies to ensure the appro-
priate policies to deter the Russian Federation from 
further aggression. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:53 Feb 08, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR116.IH
HR116
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS