[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1087 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1087
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that any attempt
by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to remain in
office beyond May 7, 2024, shall warrant nonrecognition on the part of
the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 19, 2024
Mr. Cohen (for himself and Mr. Wilson of South Carolina) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that any attempt
by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to remain in
office beyond May 7, 2024, shall warrant nonrecognition on the part of
the United States.
Whereas the Russian Federation, as a member of the United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, is bound by
international commitments with regard to human rights and the rule of
law;
Whereas Article 81(3) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as enacted
on December 25, 1993, holds that ``one and the same person cannot occupy
the office of President of the Russian Federation for more than two
consecutive terms'';
Whereas Vladimir Putin has been President of the Russian Federation for two sets
of consecutive terms on two occasions, the first lasting from May 7,
2000, to May 7, 2008, and the second, current, and final consecutive
terms beginning May 7, 2012, and expiring on May 7, 2024;
Whereas, on July 3, 2020, following votes in both chambers of the Federal
Assembly and in regional legislatures and a nationwide popular vote,
President Vladimir Putin signed Presidential Decree No. 445 enacting 206
amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, including an
amendment waiving the term limit for him personally and for Dmitry
Medvedev, allowing him to seek 2 more 6-year Presidential terms after
May 7, 2024;
Whereas the enactment of constitutional amendments had been conditioned on
approval of such amendments in a nationwide vote, referred to as ``all-
Russia voting'', that was held between June 25 and July 1, 2020, under
the unprecedented conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas the 2020 all-Russia voting was invented specifically for voting on
Vladimir Putin's constitutional amendments and was an ad hoc type of
voting previously unknown in Russia;
Whereas this voting was marked by widespread reports of organized voter
coercion, multiple voting, ballot-stuffing, and violation of the secrecy
of the ballot, and by one-sided media coverage in favor of the
amendments, while opponents of the amendments were not given airtime in
the media and had their campaign rallies prohibited and their websites
blocked;
Whereas voting was held over 7 days and was conducted not only in regular
polling places but also in makeshift locations, including park benches,
car trunks, and shopping carts, with ballots stored overnight by the
electoral commissions with no independent oversight;
Whereas in violation of the laws of the Russian Federation and the commitments
of the Russian Federation under the Organization for Security and Co-
operation in Europe and the Council of Europe, of which Russia was a
member at the time, Russian authorities did not invite international
observers to monitor the vote and limited domestic observers to those
appointed by state-controlled Public Chambers;
Whereas the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation began
announcing the results of the vote before voting had concluded;
Whereas in a statement following the voting, the leaders of the United States
delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe, Senator Roger Wicker and the late
Representative Alcee Hastings, said that ``the outcome of this vote was
decided long before the ballots were tallied'' and that ``State-
sponsored fraud, coercion, and obfuscation make it impossible to know
the true will of the Russian people'';
Whereas Senator James Risch, then-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations
of the Senate, has stated that the ``sham vote, masquerading as a
referendum, has swept away all remnants of Putin's legitimacy'';
Whereas the Department of State has held that ``[a]round the world, as a matter
of principle, the United States opposes constitutional amendments that
favor incumbents or extend their terms in office, particularly in
contexts where necessary conditions for free and fair democratic
processes are lacking'';
Whereas Vladimir Putin has violated every international norm and obligation
freely undertaken by the Russian Federation with his unprovoked and
brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine;
Whereas Vladimir Putin has openly denied the existence of the Ukrainian people
and authorized genocidal action to erase Ukrainian identity;
Whereas Vladimir Putin has made clear his intention to push militarily beyond
Ukraine if given the opportunity into NATO member countries and beyond
in his expressed effort to reconstruct a Russian imperial entity;
Whereas Vladimir Putin incarcerated Alexei Navalny, one of his strongest
remaining opposition figures, who exposed the terrible extent of
corruption present in his lawless regime and was nearly killed by a
nerve agent attack carried out by Russian security services in 2020; and
Whereas Alexei Navalny was imprisoned in inhumane conditions, often times in
solitary confinement with very little food and little to no exercise in
the most oppressive prison in Siberia, IK-3 penal colony, where he died
under unknown but highly suspicious circumstances on February 16, 2024:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) the 2020 amendments to the Constitution of the Russian
Federation were enacted in violation of the laws and
international commitments of the Russian Federation and many of
the amendments are in breach of the so-called ``unchangeable
parts'' of the Constitution: Chapter 1 ``Fundamentals of the
Constitutional System'' and Chapter 2 ``Human and Civil Rights
and Freedoms'';
(2) the waiver of the Presidential term limit resulting
from those amendments is illegitimate; and
(3) any attempt by President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin to remain in office beyond the end of his
current and final term on May 7, 2024, shall warrant
nonrecognition on the part of the United States.
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