IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 966 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the need 
for investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression and other 
international crimes committed by officials of the Government of the 
Russian Federation against the Government and people of Ukraine, and 
calling on the President to direct the United States representative to 
the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
States to immediately promote the establishment of an appropriate re-
gional or international justice mechanism to investigate and prosecute 
possible international crimes stemming from the Russian invasion of 
Ukraine, and further calling upon the President to convoke and convene 
the world’s democracies for the purposes of establishing such an inter-
national justice mechanism at the earliest possible time, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 7, 2022 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. WILSON of South 
Carolina, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. HARRIS, and Mr. SUOZZI) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the need for investigation and prosecution of the 
crime of aggression and other international crimes com-
mitted by officials of the Government of the Russian 
Federation against the Government and people of 
Ukraine, and calling on the President to direct the 
United States representative to the United Nations to 
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use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States 
to immediately promote the establishment of an appro-
priate regional or international justice mechanism to in-
vestigate and prosecute possible international crimes 
stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and 
further calling upon the President to convoke and con-
vene the world’s democracies for the purposes of estab-
lishing such an international justice mechanism at the 
earliest possible time, and for other purposes. 
Whereas Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter (‘‘UN 
Charter’’) states that ‘‘All Members shall refrain in their 
international relations from the threat or use of force 
against the territorial integrity or political independence 
of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with 
the Purposes of the United Nations’’; 
Whereas Article 51 of the UN Charter states that ‘‘Nothing 
in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of 
individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack oc-
curs against a Member of the United Nations, until the 
Security Council has take measures necessary to main-
tain international peace and security’’; 
Whereas the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet 
Union) and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic 
(Ukrainian SSR) were founding members of the United 
Nations (UN) and signatories to the UN Charter; 
Whereas Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet 
Union on August 24, 1991, which was subsequently re-
affirmed in a popular referendum on December 1, 1991; 
Whereas, on December 2, 1991, then-President of the Rus-
sian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Boris Yeltsin, 
recognized that Ukraine was independent, and on Decem-
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•HRES 966 IH 
ber 8, 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved by the 
Belovezh Accords and Ukraine was recognized as inde-
pendent; 
Whereas the United States recognized the independence of 
Ukraine on Christmas Day, 1991; 
Whereas both Ukraine and the Russian Federation are suc-
cessor states to the Ukrainian SSR and the Soviet Union 
that signed the UN Charter; 
Whereas, on December 5, 1994, the Russian Federation 
signed the Budapest Memorandum, in which Russia 
agreed to: ‘‘respect the Independence and Sovereignty 
and the existing borders of Ukraine . . . refrain from the 
threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or 
political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their 
weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self- 
defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of 
the United Nations . . . [and] to refrain from economic 
coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the 
exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sov-
ereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.’’; 
Whereas, in February and March 2014, the Russian Federa-
tion military entered and occupied the Crimean region of 
Ukraine, the Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 
ejected the legitimate Ukrainian authorities, annexed the 
region to the Russian Federation, and subsequently sus-
tained a brutal campaign of repression against Crimean 
Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians, and members of other minor-
ity ethnic and religious groups in the Ukrainian Autono-
mous Republic of Crimea, initiating a period of conflict 
in Ukraine; 
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Whereas, in April 2014, pro-Russian separatists began to 
seize territory in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine 
and in August 2014 Russian Federation forces invaded 
Ukraine to support the separatists; 
Whereas, on February 12, 2015, the Russian Federation 
signed the Minsk Agreement in which Russia agreed, 
inter alia, to ‘‘An immediate and comprehensive ceasefire 
in individual areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions 
of Ukraine . . . withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both 
parties . . . Restoration of full control over the state bor-
der of Ukraine by Ukraine’s government throughout the 
whole conflict area . . . [and] withdrawal of all foreign 
armed forces, military equipment, as well as mercenaries 
from the territory of Ukraine’’; 
Whereas the Russian Federation has failed to meet its obliga-
tions under the Minsk Agreement, and a state of conflict 
persisted until this year in the Donbas region; 
Whereas, on February 21, 2022, Russian Federation Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin, alone among UN Member States, 
contrary to international law, and contrary to Russia’s 
commitments under the UN Charter, the Budapest 
Memorandum, and the Minsk Agreement, recognized two 
eastern Ukrainian oblasts in the Donbas region as inde-
pendent states, which he called the Donetsk People’s Re-
public and the Luhansk People’s Republic; 
Whereas, following Russian Federation President Vladimir 
Putin’s illegal February 21, 2022, recognition of the 
independence of the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and 
Luhansk, President Putin ordered Armed Forces that he 
had massed on Ukraine’s border for several months to 
occupy these oblasts; 
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Whereas these and other actions perpetrated by the Russian 
Federation and all other national groups may constitute 
international crimes, to include the crime of aggression; 
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, contrary to Russian Federa-
tion President Vladimir Putin’s commitments under the 
UN Charter, the Budapest Memorandum, and the Minsk 
Agreement, he ordered his Armed Forces to mount a full 
scale invasion of Ukraine from the occupied Ukrainian 
oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, the occupied Ukrainian Au-
tonomous Republic of Crimea, and the country of 
Belarus; 
Whereas, on February 20, 2022, the Washington Post re-
ported that United States Representative to the Office of 
the United Nations and Other International Organiza-
tions in Geneva, Ambassador Bathsheba Nell Crocker, in-
formed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 
Michelle Bachelet, that the United States has ‘‘credible 
information that indicates Russian forces are creating 
lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps 
following a military occupation . . .’’ and ‘‘. . . credible 
information that Russian forces will likely use lethal 
measures to disperse peaceful protests or otherwise 
counter peaceful exercises of perceived resistance from ci-
vilian populations. . . .’’; 
Whereas, on February 27, 2022, Russian Federation Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin publicly put his strategic nuclear 
forces on alert, thus exponentially escalating the serious-
ness of his invasion of Ukraine, and implicitly threat-
ening NATO countries and others with nuclear annihila-
tion; 
Whereas the Russian Federation is a permanent member of 
the United Nations Security Council, with veto power; 
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Whereas the international community has previously estab-
lished ad hoc tribunals and special courts and other jus-
tice mechanisms through the United Nations to bring 
justice in specific countries where there have been war 
crimes; 
Whereas various tribunals, including the International Crimi-
nal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International 
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Special Court for 
Sierra Leone, have successfully investigated and pros-
ecuted war crimes, and there are many positive lessons 
to be learned from these three ad hoc tribunals; 
Whereas the crime of aggression is an international crime 
and recognized as such by most nations of the world; and 
Whereas, if the United Nations is unwilling or unable to act, 
the world’s democracies have an interest in seeing ac-
countability for international crimes, to include the crime 
of aggression committed against a fellow democracy: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the United States should urge the Govern-
ments of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and 
other groups involved in the war in Ukraine to im-
plement an immediate cease-fire and engage in nego-
tiations to end the bloodshed, while demanding that 
the Russian Federation withdraw its forces from 
Ukraine, the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and 
Luhansk, and the Ukrainian Autonomous Republic 
of Crimea; 
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(2) the United States should publicly declare 
that it is a requirement of basic justice that inter-
national crimes to include the crime of aggression, 
whether committed by officials of the Government of 
the Russian Federation, or members of other irreg-
ular separatist groups involved in the war in 
Ukraine, should be investigated and prosecuted; 
(3) the President should direct the United 
States Representative to the United Nations to use 
the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to 
immediately promote the establishment of an inter-
national justice mechanism for Russian war crimes 
and other crimes against Ukraine, and to prosecute 
the perpetrators of such serious crimes committed 
during the period of conflict in Ukraine; 
(4) in the event that the United Nations is un-
able or unwilling to establish a tribunal for Russian 
war crimes and other crimes against Ukraine, the 
President should convoke and convene the world’s 
democracies for the purposes of establishing such a 
regional or international justice mechanism; 
(5) in working with other countries to establish 
this regional or international justice mechanism for 
Russian war crimes and other crimes against 
Ukraine, the United States should assist all its part-
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ners in this effort to develop judicial procedures that 
enable the fair and open prosecution of those per-
sons guilty of perpetrating such serious crimes; 
(6) the United States should encourage, sup-
port, and collect any and all information that can be 
supplied to an appropriate regional or international 
justice mechanism for Russian war crimes and other 
crimes against Ukraine for use as evidence to sup-
port the indictment and trial of any persons respon-
sible for international crimes to include the crime of 
aggression in Ukraine an immediate priority; and 
(7) the United States should urge all other in-
terested states to apprehend and deliver into the 
custody of an appropriate regional or justice mecha-
nism for Russian war crimes and other crimes 
against Ukraine persons indicted for international 
crimes and urge all interested states to provide any 
and all data and information pertaining to such 
crimes to that justice mechanism. 
Æ 
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