Title: Condemning the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to restore full rights to Russia within the Council.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution reaffirms U.S. support of Ukraine's territorial integrity and condemns the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's decision to restore full rights to Russia within the council. The resolution calls on the United States and the European Union to continue to issue sanctions against Russia.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 474 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 474

Condemning the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 
      Europe to restore full rights to Russia within the Council.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 2, 2019

Ms. Kaptur (for herself, Mr. Harris, Mr. Quigley, and Mr. Fitzpatrick) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, 
  Oversight and Reform, Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 
      Europe to restore full rights to Russia within the Council.

Whereas, in February 2014, in direct opposition to international law, Russian 
        troops and other officials began entering the Crimean Peninsula and 
        occupying military and government infrastructure;
Whereas, in March 2014, the Parliament of Russia approved the deployment of 
        Russian troops on Ukrainian territory;
Whereas, in April 2014, in response to the occupation, the Parliamentary 
        Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) declared that the annexation of 
        Crimea by Russia violated the Statute of the Council of Europe and 
        Russia's commitments to the Council;
Whereas PACE ratified Resolution 1990 (2014), which included a motion suspending 
        Russia's voting rights, the right to be represented in the PACE's 
        leading bodies, and the right to participate in election observation 
        missions;
Whereas Russia's occupation of Crimea in Ukraine has been widely condemned by 
        the international community as a direct violation of the territorial 
        integrity of Ukraine;
Whereas, on March 27, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 
        Resolution 68/292 which called for states and international 
        organizations to continue to recognize Crimea as a part of Ukraine;
Whereas through Resolution 2034 (2015), PACE urged the Russian authorities to 
        reverse the illegal annexation of Crimea, investigate allegations of 
        human rights abuses, disband all paramilitary within the region, and 
        reverse the closure of the Crimean Tatar television channel, ATR;
Whereas PACE stated that ``The Assembly reserves the right to annul the 
        credentials of the Russian delegation, if the Russian Federation does 
        not de-escalate the situation and reverse the annexation of Crimea.'';
Whereas, since 2014, Russia has continued to engage in acts of intimidation and 
        direct violation of international law;
Whereas, since 2014, Russia has been in direct violation of its obligations 
        under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in using threat and force against the 
        territorial integrity of Ukraine;
Whereas, since 2014, Russia has been in direct violation of its obligations 
        under the Helsinki Final Act with respect to its violation of Ukraine's 
        territorial integrity;
Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission has reported human 
        rights violations in Crimea against the Crimean Tatars, ethnic 
        Ukrainians, and non-Russian Orthodox religious minorities;
Whereas, in November 2018, Russian warships fired on and seized Ukrainian naval 
        ships near the Crimean Peninsula in the Kerch Strait and captured 24 
        Ukrainian sailors;
Whereas, in May 2019, the United Nations Tribunal for the Law of the Sea 
        declared that Russian authorities must release the detained Ukrainian 
        sailors by June 25, 2019;
Whereas, by June 26, 2019, Russia had yet to release the 24 detained sailors; 
        and
Whereas despite the lack of action taken by Russia to remove troops from Crimea, 
        release the detained sailors, and restore Ukraine's territorial 
        integrity, the Council of Europe reinstated full rights in the Council 
        to Russia in a vote 118 in favor and 62 against: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) reiterates its support for the territorial integrity of 
        Ukraine and recognition of Crimea as a part of Ukraine;
            (2) reaffirms the support of the United States for the 
        sovereignty of Ukraine;
            (3) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to ensure 
        that democratic principles, the rule of law, and human rights 
        protections are upheld in the illegally occupied territory of 
        Crimea;
            (4) condemns all human rights and territorial violations 
        carried out by Russia with respect to Crimea;
            (5) condemns Russia's violations of its obligations under 
        international agreements with respect to sovereignty of nations 
        and the protection of human rights;
            (6) condemns PACE's decision to restore full rights to 
        Russia in the Council of Europe, despite continued violations 
        of international law with regards to Crimea;
            (7) calls on PACE to hold Russia to the standards set forth 
        in the Statute of the Council of Europe;
            (8) welcomes the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia 
        by the United States and our European Union allies;
            (9) calls on the Government of the United States to 
        continue to issue sanctions which are set forth under the 
        Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 
        (Public Law 115-44), as well as sanctions under the Sergei 
        Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 and the Global 
        Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title 
        XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note); and
            (10) calls for the United States and the European Union to 
        impose additional sanctions on Russia if on the 1-year 
        anniversary of Russia's aggression near the Kerch Strait, the 
        Ukrainian ships and the detained sailors are still in Russian 
        custody.
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