[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 593 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 593
Expressing support for the continued value of arms control agreements
and condemning the Russian Federation's purported suspension of its
participation in the New START Treaty.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 19, 2024
Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Warren, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr.
Wyden, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Sanders) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the continued value of arms control agreements
and condemning the Russian Federation's purported suspension of its
participation in the New START Treaty.
Whereas the United States maintains bipartisan support to ensure national
security and the defense of United States allies and partners;
Whereas President Ronald Reagan stated ``a nuclear war cannot be won and must
never be fought'' in his 1984 State of the Union address, and affirmed
the conviction with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985;
Whereas, in January 2022, President Joseph R. Biden joined the leaders of the
People's Republic of China, the French Republic, the Russian Federation,
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to reaffirm
that ``a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought'';
Whereas the United States, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed the 1994 Budapest Memorandum,
committing ``to respect the independence and sovereignty and the
existing borders of Ukraine'' and ``to refrain from the threat or use of
force'' against the country;
Whereas the United States has a history of leadership in preventing the spread
of nuclear weapons, including its work with Ukraine, the United Kingdom,
and the Russian Federation to ensure Ukraine did not retain any nuclear
weapons left on its territory when it became independent;
Whereas the Russian Federation further illegally invaded Ukraine on February 24,
2022, and has used veiled and blatant nuclear saber-rattling in service
of its war of aggression against a sovereign state;
Whereas the war has led to thousands of casualties, including over 10,000
civilians and more than 560 children killed, along with the displacement
of over 6,400,000 Ukrainians and an enduring global food crisis;
Whereas the Russian Federation's illegal war against Ukraine represents the
greatest threat to European security and freedom in a generation;
Whereas, on February 27, 2022, President of Russia Vladimir Putin ordered his
military to put Russia's nuclear forces on ``special combat readiness''
in an escalatory response to the United States' and its Western allies'
unequivocal condemnation of the Russian Federation's illegal invasion of
Ukraine;
Whereas, on September 21, 2022, President Putin warned he was ``not bluffing''
when he said Russia has ``various weapons of mass destruction'' and
``will use all the means available to us'' to defend its territory
shortly before annexing additional Ukrainian lands through
``referendums'';
Whereas, in February 2021, the United States and Russian Federation extended the
Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation
on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic
Offensive Arms, signed on April 8, 2010, and entered into force on
February 5, 2011 (commonly referred to as the ``New START Treaty''), for
5 years until February 5, 2026;
Whereas, on February 21, 2023, President Putin announced the Russian
Federation's purported suspension of the New START Treaty, the last
major remaining bilateral nuclear arms control agreement, in a move
deemed legally invalid by the United States;
Whereas New START has had bipartisan support and limits the Russian nuclear
arsenal to 1,550 warheads on no more than 700 deployed delivery
vehicles, and to 800 deployed and non-deployed strategic launchers;
Whereas New START has permitted robust and strict transparency and verification
measures and on-site inspections, which have provided valuable insight
into Russia's nuclear arsenal;
Whereas the United States has decades of bipartisan leadership in nuclear arms
control, including cooperation with the Soviet Union and the Russian
Federation even when relations were strained;
Whereas, in June 2023, the United States Government announced it is now ready to
engage in a dialogue with the Russian Federation on a post-2026 nuclear
arms control framework and is ``prepared to stick to the central limits
as long as Russia does'' while also stating a ``willingness to engage in
bilateral arms control discussions'' with the Russian Federation and the
People's Republic of China ``without preconditions'';
Whereas the nuclear weapon states recognized by the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at Washington, London, and Moscow
July 1, 1968 (commonly referred to as the ``Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty'' or ``NPT''), including the Russian Federation, the United
States, and the People's Republic of China, have an obligation to
``pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to
cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear
disarmament'';
Whereas, in November 2023, senior United States and Chinese officials held ``a
candid and in-depth discussion on issues related to arms control and
nonproliferation as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of
communication and responsibly manage the U.S.-PRC relationship''; and
Whereas the absence of a new framework for nuclear arms control after the
expiration of New START would affect strategic stability and increase
the risk of an unrestrained nuclear arms race with the Russian
Federation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) condemns in the strongest terms the Russian
Federation's nuclear escalatory rhetoric and veiled threats on
the potential use of nuclear weapons to further its invasion
and aggression against a free and independent Ukraine;
(2) condemns the Russian Federation's purported suspension
of its participation in the New START Treaty;
(3) calls for immediate cessation of nuclear saber-rattling
and nuclear escalatory rhetoric from the Russian Federation;
(4) emphasizes the continued value of arms control
agreements between the United States and the Russian
Federation;
(5) calls for the Russian Federation to promptly return to
full implementation of the New START Treaty, including on-site
inspections, provision of treaty-mandated notifications and
data, and resumption of Bilateral Consultative Commission
meetings;
(6) calls on the President to continue to engage the
People's Republic of China in further bilateral talks on
nuclear risk reduction and arms control, and to pursue new
multilateral arms control efforts involving the 5 permanent
members of the United Nations Security Council; and
(7) calls on the President to continue to pursue nuclear
arms control and risk reduction dialogue with the Russian
Federation to maintain strategic stability, ensure the conflict
in Ukraine does not escalate to nuclear use, and avoid an
unrestrained nuclear arms race.
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