Title: Calling for a prompt multinational freedom of navigation operation in the Black Sea and urging the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution urges the President to work with allies to lead a multinational freedom of navigation operation in the Black Sea to push back against excessive Russian claims of sovereignty. It also calls for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to enhance allied maritime presence and capabilities in the Black Sea and for European governments to cancel the Nord Stream 2 pipeline due to its threat to European energy security. The resolution also urges the President to provide additional security assistance to Ukraine and states that the President is required by statute to impose mandatory sanctions on Russia.

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

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 116

 Calling for a prompt multinational freedom of navigation operation in 
    the Black Sea and urging the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 
                               pipeline.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2019

 Mr. Conaway submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on 
 Financial Services, Oversight and Reform, the Judiciary, 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


 
 Calling for a prompt multinational freedom of navigation operation in 
    the Black Sea and urging the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 
                               pipeline.

Whereas, in late February 2014, the Russian Federation invaded and illegally 
        occupied Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, in full contravention of the 
        United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, which condemn the 
        threat or use of force as means of altering international borders;
Whereas the Russian Federation's attempted illegal annexation of Crimea is also 
        a direct violation of its pledges as a signatory to the 1994 Budapest 
        Memorandum on Security Assurances to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and 
        existing borders and to refrain from the threat or use of force against 
        Ukraine;
Whereas the inclusion of the United States and the United Kingdom as signatories 
        to the Budapest Memorandum was essential in order to provide Ukraine the 
        security assurances needed to give up its nuclear arsenal;
Whereas, on November 25, 2018, military forces of the Russian Federation 
        attacked and seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels and their crews as they 
        attempted to transit the Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea 
        of Azov;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation still has not released the 
        Ukrainian crew members or returned the Ukrainian ships that were seized 
        illegally;
Whereas European Commissioner Julian King stated that the Government of the 
        Russian Federation launched a disinformation campaign over a year ago 
        designed to paint Ukraine and NATO as provocateurs in the Kerch Strait;
Whereas, as part of the Russian Federation disinformation campaign, Russian 
        state media outlets spread demonstrable falsehoods, including claims 
        that Ukraine was dredging the Kerch Strait seabed to facilitate the 
        stationing of a NATO fleet, that Ukraine had intentionally infected the 
        sea with cholera, and that Ukrainian and British clandestine services 
        were conspiring to destroy the Kerch Strait bridge with a nuclear 
        weapon;
Whereas the United States has important national interests in the Black Sea 
        region, including the security of three NATO littoral states, the 
        promotion of European energy market diversification by ensuring 
        unfettered European access to energy exporters in the Caucuses and 
        central Asia, and combating use of the region by smugglers as a conduit 
        for trafficking in persons, narcotics, and arms;
Whereas the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a proposed underwater natural gas pipeline 
        project that would provide an additional 55,000,000,000 cubic meters of 
        pipeline capacity from the Russian Federation to the Federal Republic of 
        Germany through the Baltic Sea;
Whereas the Russian Federation's state-owned oil and gas company, Gazprom, is 
        the sole shareholder of the Nord Stream 2 project;
Whereas, in 2017, there was spare capacity of approximately 55,000,000,000 cubic 
        meters in the Ukrainian gas transit system;
Whereas Gazprom cut off natural gas exports to Europe via Ukraine in 2006, and 
        again in 2009, over supply and pricing disputes with Ukraine's state-
        owned oil and gas company, Naftogaz;
Whereas transit of Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine declined 
        precipitously after the completion of Nord Stream 1 in 2011, falling 
        from 80 percent to between 40 and 50 percent of Russia's total exports 
        to Europe;
Whereas, in 2017, Russian gas accounted for 37 percent of Europe's natural gas 
        imports, an increase of 5 percent over 2016;
Whereas, on December 12, 2018, the European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a 
        resolution condemning both the Russian Federation's aggression in the 
        Kerch Strait and the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline; and
Whereas, on December 11, 2018, the United States House of Representatives passed 
        a resolution calling upon the European Union to reject the Nord Stream 2 
        pipeline and urging the President to use all available means to promote 
        energy policies in Europe that reduce European reliance on Russian 
        energy exports: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls upon the President to work with United States 
        allies to promptly lead a robust multinational freedom of 
        navigation operation in the Black Sea to help demonstrate 
        support for internationally recognized borders, bilateral 
        agreements, and safe passage through the Kerch Strait and Sea 
        of Azov and to push back against excessive Russian Federation 
        claims of sovereignty;
            (2) calls upon the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to 
        enhance allied maritime presence and capabilities, including 
        maritime domain awareness and coastal defense in the Black Sea 
        in order to support Freedom of Navigation Operations and allied 
        interests;
            (3) urges the President to use the authority provided under 
        section 1234 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
        Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115-91; 131 Stat. 1659) to enhance 
        the capability of the Ukrainian military;
            (4) urges the President, through the Departments of State 
        and Defense, to provide additional security assistance to 
        Ukraine, especially to strengthen Ukraine's maritime 
        capabilities, in order to improve deterrence and defense 
        against further Russian aggression;
            (5) reiterates that the President is required by statute to 
        impose mandatory sanctions on the Russian Federation under the 
        Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Public 
        Law 115-44);
            (6) stresses that sanctions against the Russian Federation 
        are a direct result of the actions of the Government of the 
        Russian Federation and will continue and increase until there 
        is an appropriate change in Russian behavior;
            (7) calls upon United States allies and partners in Europe 
        to deny Russian Navy vessels access to their ports to resupply 
        and refuel;
            (8) notes the resolution passed by the House of 
        Representatives on December 11, 2018, calling on European 
        governments to cancel the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and urging the 
        President to support European energy security through a policy 
        of reducing reliance on the Russian Federation;
            (9) applauds and concurs with the European Parliament's 
        December 12, 2018, resolution condemning Russian aggression in 
        the Kerch Strait and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, calling for 
        the pipeline's cancellation due to its threat to European 
        energy security, and calling on the Russian Federation to 
        guarantee freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait; and
            (10) urges the President to continue working with Congress 
        and our allies to ensure the appropriate policies to deter the 
        Russian Federation from further aggression.
                                 <all>