IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1145 
Condemning the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and 
calling for a robust United States and international response. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. MALINOWSKI, and Mr. 
SMITH of New Jersey) submitted the following resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Com-
mittees on Financial Services, Ways and Means, Transportation and In-
frastructure, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the poisoning of Russian opposition leader 
Alexei Navalny and calling for a robust United States 
and international response. 
Whereas Alexei Navalny is a well-known anticorruption activ-
ist and leader of the political opposition in Russia; 
Whereas Mr. Navalny garnered 27 percent of the vote in the 
2013 Moscow mayoral election; 
Whereas since that election, Mr. Navalny and his party have 
been repeatedly denied the opportunity to compete in 
elections; 
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•HRES 1145 IH 
Whereas Mr. Navalny has been imprisoned multiple times for 
participating in unsanctioned protests; 
Whereas Mr. Navalny was attacked twice with a chemical 
substance in 2017 and potentially poisoned in 2019 while 
in prison; 
Whereas over the years a number of Russian journalists, 
human rights activists, politicians, whistleblowers, and 
others have been killed or died under mysterious cir-
cumstances, in Russia and overseas, including— 
(1) former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko (in 
London) and investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya 
in 2006; 
(2) human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, jour-
nalist Anastasia Baburova, and human rights activist 
Natalya Estemirova in 2009; and 
(3) opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in 2015; 
Whereas, on August 20, 2020, Mr. Navalny fell ill while on 
a domestic flight in Russia; 
Whereas, on August 22, 2020, Mr. Navalny was evacuated by 
airlift from Omsk, Russia, to Berlin, Germany, for his 
protection and to ensure he would receive a high stand-
ard of health care to improve his chances of recovery; 
Whereas German chemical weapons experts conducted tests 
and found ‘‘unequivocal’’ evidence that Mr. Navalny had 
been poisoned with a Soviet-era Novichok chemical nerve 
agent; 
Whereas specialized laboratories in France and Sweden con-
firmed that Mr. Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent 
from the Novichok group; 
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has re-
peatedly denied that Mr. Navalny was poisoned; 
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•HRES 1145 IH 
Whereas the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany 
has called on the Government of the Russian Federation 
to open an investigation into Mr. Navalny’s case; 
Whereas the Russian Federation is a state party to the Inter-
national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); 
Whereas Article 6 of the ICCPR states that ‘‘Every human 
being has the inherent right to life’’ and ‘‘No one shall 
be arbitrarily deprived of his life’’; 
Whereas Article 9 of the ICCPR states that ‘‘Everyone has 
the right to liberty and security of person.’’; 
Whereas the Russian Federation is a member of the Organi-
zation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); 
Whereas respect for human rights is key to the OSCE’s com-
prehensive approach to security and therefore the OSCE 
monitors the human rights situation in its 57 partici-
pating states; 
Whereas Congress passed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law 
Accountability Act of 2012 (title IV of Public Law 112– 
208) and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Account-
ability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114– 
328) in 2016 which provide the United States Govern-
ment with authorities to respond to grave violations of 
human rights and corruption in Russia; and 
Whereas in response to a previous Novichok attack against 
a United Kingdom national and his daughter in 2018, 
the United States Government imposed two rounds of 
sanctions on Russia pursuant to the Chemical and Bio-
logical Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 
1991 (Public Law 102–182; 22 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.): 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
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•HRES 1145 IH 
(1) condemns the apparently purposeful poi-
soning 
on 
August 
20, 
2020, 
of 
Russian 
anticorruption activist and opposition leader Alexei 
Navalny; 
(2) expresses its appreciation for the prompt 
and generous efforts of the Cinema for Peace Foun-
dation and the Government of the Federal Republic 
of Germany to ensure high-quality health care for 
Mr. Navalny after he was poisoned by facilitating his 
transfer by airlift from Russia to Germany; 
(3) welcomes reports that Mr. Navalny has 
emerged from a medically induced coma and is 
gradually recovering from the poisoning; 
(4) hopes for Mr. Navalny’s full and complete 
recovery so that he may promptly resume his life 
and work; 
(5) urges multilateral human rights monitoring 
bodies to monitor the case of the August 2020 poi-
soning of Alexei Navalny as a probable violation of 
his fundamental human rights and to respond ac-
cordingly; 
(6) calls on the Government of the Russian 
Federation to cooperate with an independent, impar-
tial, and thorough investigation of the reported poi-
soning of Alexei Navalny; 
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•HRES 1145 IH 
(7) calls on the United States Government to 
support international or multilateral efforts to en-
sure an independent, impartial, and thorough inves-
tigation of the reported poisoning of Alexei Navalny; 
(8) urges the United States Government, in all 
its interactions with the Government of the Russian 
Federation, to raise the case of the poisoning of 
Alexei Navalny and underscore the necessity of 
bringing the organizers and perpetrators to justice; 
(9) calls on the Secretary of State and the Sec-
retary of the Treasury to use their authority under 
the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability 
Act of 2012 (title IV of Public Law 112–208) and 
the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability 
Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114–328) 
to designate individuals whom they determine upon 
investigation to have been involved in the poisoning 
of Alexei Navalny as perpetrators, organizers, or 
masterminds, on the list of specially designated na-
tionals and blocked persons maintained by the Office 
of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the 
Treasury, freezing their assets and making them in-
eligible to receive United States visas; and 
(10) supports the 60-day review period trig-
gered by the submission of a letter to the President 
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•HRES 1145 IH 
by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Foreign 
Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives 
to investigate whether the poisoning of Alexei 
Navalny constitutes use of a chemical weapon by the 
Government of the Russian Federation in contraven-
tion of international law, and if so, to impose sanc-
tions pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weap-
ons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 
(Public Law 102–182; 22 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.). 
Æ 
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