Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act
Bill: S.4134 | Sponsor: Sen. Cornyn, John (R-TX)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act
This bill requires the President to report to Congress on atrocities committed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022.
Specifically, the report must describe in detail (1) U.S. government efforts to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence related to war crimes and other atrocities committed during the invasion; (2) media, public diplomacy, and information operations to make the Russian people, including their military and political leaders, aware of efforts to identify and prosecute those responsible for such atrocities; and (3) the process for a domestic, foreign, or international court or tribunal to obtain information from the U.S. government related to such atrocities.

To direct the President to submit to Congress a report on United States 
   Government efforts to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and 
information related to war crimes and other atrocities committed during 
the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ukraine Invasion War Crimes 
Deterrence and Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) in its premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified, and 
        unlawful full-scale invasion of Ukraine that commenced on 
        February 24, 2022, the military of the Government of the 
        Russian Federation under the direction of President Vladimir 
        Putin has committed war crimes that include--
                    (A) the deliberate targeting of civilians and 
                injuring or killing of noncombatants;
                    (B) the deliberate targeting and attacking of 
                hospitals, schools, and other non-military buildings 
                dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable 
                purposes, such as the bombing of a theater in Mariupol 
                that served as a shelter for noncombatants and had the 
                word ``children'' written clearly in the Russian 
                language outside;
                    (C) the indiscriminate bombardment of undefended 
                dwellings and buildings;
                    (D) the wanton destruction of property not 
                justified by military necessity;
                    (E) unlawful civilian deportations;
                    (F) the taking of hostages; and
                    (G) rape, or sexual assault or abuse;
            (2) the use of chemical weapons by the Government of the 
        Russian Federation in Ukraine would constitute a war crime, and 
        engaging in any military preparations to use chemical weapons 
        or to develop, produce, stockpile, or retain chemical weapons 
        is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which the 
        Russian Federation is a signatory;
            (3) Vladimir Putin has a long record of committing acts of 
        aggression, systematic abuses of human rights, and acts that 
        constitute war crimes or other atrocities both at home and 
        abroad, and the brutality and scale of these actions, including 
        in the Russian Federation republic of Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, 
        and Ukraine, demonstrate the extent to which his regime is 
        willing to flout international norms and values in the pursuit 
        of its objectives;
            (4) Vladimir Putin has previously sanctioned the use of 
        chemical weapons at home and abroad, including in the 
        poisonings of Russian spy turned double agent Sergei Skripal 
        and his daughter Yulia and leading Russian opposition figure 
        Aleksey Navalny, and aided and abetted the use of chemical 
        weapons by President Bashar al-Assad in Syria; and
            (5) in 2014, the Government of the Russian Federation 
        initiated its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine 
        which resulted in its illegal occupation of Crimea, the 
        unrecognized declaration of independence by the so-called 
        ``Donetsk People's Republic'' and ``Luhansk People's Republic'' 
        by Russia-backed proxies, and numerous human rights violations 
        and deaths of civilians in Ukraine.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States--
            (1) to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and 
        information related to war crimes and other atrocities 
        committed during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine 
        that began on February 24, 2022, for use in appropriate 
        domestic, foreign, and international courts and tribunals 
        prosecuting those responsible for such crimes;
            (2) to help deter the commission of war crimes and other 
        atrocities in Ukraine by publicizing to the maximum possible 
        extent, including among Russian and other foreign military 
        commanders and troops in Ukraine, efforts to identify and 
        prosecute those responsible for the commission of war crimes 
        during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on 
        February 24, 2022; and
            (3) to continue efforts to identify, deter, and pursue 
        accountability for war crimes and other atrocities committed 
        around the world and by other perpetrators, and to leverage 
        international cooperation and best practices in this regard 
        with respect to the current situation in Ukraine.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON UNITED STATES EFFORTS.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
and consistent with the protection of intelligence sources and methods, 
the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
a report, which may include a classified annex, describing in detail 
the following:
            (1) United States Government efforts to collect, analyze, 
        and preserve evidence and information related to war crimes and 
        other atrocities committed during the full-scale Russian 
        invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022, including a 
        description of--
                    (A) the respective roles of various agencies, 
                departments, and offices, and the interagency mechanism 
                established for the coordination of such efforts;
                    (B) the types of information and evidence that are 
                being collected, analyzed, and preserved to help 
                identify those responsible for the commission of war 
                crimes or other atrocities during the full-scale 
                Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022; and
                    (C) steps taken to coordinate with, and support the 
                work of, allies, partners, international institutions 
                and organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in 
                such efforts.
            (2) Media, public diplomacy, and information operations to 
        make Russian military commanders, troops, political leaders and 
        the Russian people aware of efforts to identify and prosecute 
        those responsible for the commission of war crimes or other 
        atrocities during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 
        2022, and of the types of acts that may be prosecutable.
            (3) The process for a domestic, foreign, or international 
        court or tribunal to request and obtain from the United States 
        Government information related to war crimes or other 
        atrocities committed during the full-scale Russian invasion of 
        Ukraine in 2022.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
                Committee on the Judiciary, and the Select Committee on 
                Intelligence of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee 
                on the Judiciary, and the Permanent Select Committee on 
                Intelligence of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Atrocities.--The term ``atrocities'' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 6(2) of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and 
        Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-441; 22 
        U.S.C. 2656 note).
            (3) War crime.--The term ``war crime'' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 2441(c) of title 18, United States 
        Code.
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