Title: A resolution marking the fifth anniversary of Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity by honoring the bravery, determination, and sacrifice of the people of Ukraine during and since the Revolution, and condemning continued Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 74 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 74

  Marking the fifth anniversary of Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity by 
  honoring the bravery, determination, and sacrifice of the people of 
   Ukraine during and since the Revolution, and condemning continued 
                  Russian aggression against Ukraine.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 14, 2019

   Mr. Portman (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
   Murphy, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Casey, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. 
Ernst, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Collins, Mr. Brown, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Shaheen, 
 and Mr. Jones) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Marking the fifth anniversary of Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity by 
  honoring the bravery, determination, and sacrifice of the people of 
   Ukraine during and since the Revolution, and condemning continued 
                  Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Whereas, on November 21, 2013, peaceful protests began on Independence Square 
        (Maidan) in Kyiv against the decision by the government of then-
        President Viktor Yanukovych to suspend signing the Ukraine-European 
        Union (EU) Association Agreement and instead pursue closer ties with the 
        Russian Federation;
Whereas the Maidan protests, initially referred to as the Euromaidan, quickly 
        drew thousands of people and broadened to become a general demonstration 
        in support of Ukraine's integration with the European Union and against 
        the corrupt Yanukovych regime;
Whereas, on the night of November 30, 2013, Ukrainian police forces surrounded 
        and violently dispersed peaceful protestors on the Maidan;
Whereas the next day, thousands of Euromaidan demonstrators regrouped and 
        resumed the protests for three months, despite facing continuing and 
        increasing violence from the police;
Whereas, on January 16, 2014, anti-protest laws, known as the ``dictatorship 
        laws'', were adopted by the Government of Ukraine, which sought to 
        restrict the actions of the Euromaidan protestors;
Whereas these laws were condemned by Euromaidan protestors as well as Western 
        officials, including then-Secretary of State John Kerry, who called them 
        ``anti-democratic'';
Whereas many of these laws were repealed just 11 days after being signed into 
        law;
Whereas, on the night of February 18, 2014, police assaulted and burned down the 
        Trade Union Building in Kyiv, which had been used as a headquarters for 
        the Euromaidan movement;
Whereas Yanukovych's government forces began using live ammunition against the 
        Euromaidan movement, leading to the deaths of more than a hundred 
        protestors who are now remembered in Ukraine as the ``Heavenly 
        Hundred'';
Whereas, on February 21, 2014, in the face of the ongoing Euromaidan protests 
        demanding his resignation, then-President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kyiv, 
        and then fled Ukraine the next day;
Whereas, on February 22, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized that 
        Yanukovych had ceased his functions as president, voted him from office, 
        and scheduled early presidential elections for May 25, 2014;
Whereas, on February 25, 2014, fulfilling demands of the Maidan, Ukraine's 
        special police force known as the Berkut was dissolved, as it had been 
        heavily involved in the violence against the Euromaidan protestors;
Whereas the Ukrainian government's use of force against activists throughout the 
        Euromaidan protests, including the use of live bullets, was widely 
        condemned by Western governments, including the United States, and 
        ultimately failed to discourage the Euromaidan movement;
Whereas, on September 1, 2017, the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement came into 
        force after its signing by the Government of Ukraine and the EU;
Whereas, in response to Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, the Russian Federation 
        launched military aggression against Ukraine, illegally occupied 
        Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and instigated a war in eastern Ukraine, 
        which is still ongoing and has killed more than 10,000 Ukrainians;
Whereas the Russian Federation's attempted invasion and annexation of Crimea has 
        been widely seen as an effort to stifle pro-democracy developments 
        across Ukraine in 2014 in the wake of the Revolution of Dignity;
Whereas 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest 
        Memorandum, which committed the United States, the United Kingdom, and 
        the Russian Federation to refrain from the threat or use of force 
        against Ukraine's territorial integrity in exchange for Ukraine giving 
        up its nuclear weapons;
Whereas the Russian Federation is a signatory to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum 
        and thus committed to respect the independence, sovereignty, and 
        territorial integrity of Ukraine;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation is further obligated to respect 
        the sovereignty of Ukraine pursuant to its commitments as a signatory to 
        the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of the United Nations;
Whereas, on March 27, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 
        Resolution 68/262 calling on states and international organizations not 
        to recognize any change in Crimea's status and affirmed the commitment 
        of the United Nations to recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine;
Whereas the United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on 
        individuals and entities who have enabled the attempted invasion, 
        annexation, and occupation of Crimea;
Whereas, pursuant to the Revolution of Dignity's goal of fighting corruption in 
        Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law On the National 
        Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) of Ukraine on October 14, 2014;
Whereas, on June 26, 2017, the Law of Ukraine On the Establishment of the High 
        Anti-Corruption Court was signed into law;
Whereas, on July 5, 2018, the Law on National Security was adopted, which has 
        strengthened civilian control over the Ukrainian military, increased 
        transparency in the security sector, and more clearly delineated the 
        powers of law enforcement agencies;
Whereas, on January 6, 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople granted 
        autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, thus establishing the 
        first independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church in over 300 years;
Whereas despite requests by the Government of Ukraine, the Government of the 
        Russian Federation has repeatedly refused to extradite former President 
        of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to stand trial in Ukraine;
Whereas, on January 24, 2019, a Ukrainian court found Yanukovych guilty in 
        absentia of high treason and complicity in conducting an aggressive war 
        against Ukraine, and sentenced him to 13 years in prison;
Whereas, in order to help Ukraine preserve its sovereignty in the face of 
        Russian aggression, the United States Government has provided Ukraine 
        with over $1,000,000,000 in security assistance, including critical 
        defensive items such as Javelin anti-tank missiles and Island-class 
        cutters; and
Whereas, in the 115th Congress, both the United States Senate and the United 
        States House of Representatives passed resolutions commemorating the 
        85th anniversary of the Holodomor, the Soviet Union's manmade famine 
        that it committed against the people of Ukraine in 1932 and 1933: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) remembers the courage and resolve shown by the 
        Ukrainian people in the Revolution of Dignity;
            (2) solemnly honors the ``Heavenly Hundred'' who were 
        killed during the Revolution of Dignity while fighting for the 
        causes of freedom and democracy in Ukraine;
            (3) applauds the progress that the Government of Ukraine 
        has made since the Revolution of Dignity in strengthening the 
        rule of law, aligning itself with Euro-Atlantic norms and 
        standards, and improving military combat readiness and 
        interoperability with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
        (NATO);
            (4) encourages the Government of Ukraine to continue 
        implementing crucial reforms to fight corruption, build strong 
        and free markets, and strengthen democracy and the rule of law;
            (5) affirms the United States Government's unwavering 
        commitment to supporting the continuing efforts of the 
        Government of Ukraine to implement democratic and free market 
        reforms, restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity, as well as 
        providing additional lethal and non-lethal security assistance 
        to strengthen Ukraine's defense capabilities on land, sea, and 
        in the air in order to improve deterrence against Russian 
        aggression;
            (6) condemns the Russian Federation's ongoing malign 
        activities against Ukraine and renews its call on the 
        Government of the Russian Federation to immediately cease all 
        activity that seeks to undermine Ukraine and destabilize the 
        European continent;
            (7) reiterates its strong condemnation of the provocative 
        actions and unjustified use of military force by the Government 
        of the Russian Federation in the Kerch Strait against the 
        Ukrainian Navy on November 25, 2018, as a blatant violation of 
        the Russian Federation's commitments under international law 
        and the 2003 Treaty Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine 
        on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch 
        Strait;
            (8) expresses its support to all Ukrainian political 
        prisoners convicted on fabricated charges and incarcerated by 
        Russian or Russian-controlled authorities, including the 
        Ukrainian sailors seized in the November 25, 2018, attack near 
        the Kerch Strait who are due treatment under the 1949 Geneva 
        Conventions and have been illegally kept in detention in the 
        territory of the Russian Federation, while renewing its strong 
        call on the Kremlin to immediately release these Ukrainian 
        citizens;
            (9) affirms the Department of State's Crimea Declaration, 
        announced on July 25, 2018, that rejects Russia's attempted 
        annexation of Crimea and pledges to maintain this policy until 
        Ukraine's territorial integrity is restored;
            (10) believes that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline poses a major 
        threat to European security, seeks to further undermine 
        Ukraine's economic stability, and threatens to increase the 
        country's vulnerability to further Russian military incursions;
            (11) calls upon the United States Government, as well as 
        its international allies and partners, to maintain a strong 
        sanctions regime against the Russian Federation until it 
        upholds its international obligations towards Ukraine, 
        including the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and 
        the Minsk Agreements; and
            (12) congratulates the people of Ukraine on the 
        announcement on January 6, 2019, of autocephaly for an 
        independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which has marked an 
        important milestone in Ukraine's pursuit of its own future free 
        from Russian influence.
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