[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 59 (Monday, April 8, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2649-S2650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 629--CONDEMNING THE ARBITRARY ARREST OF UNITED STATES
CITIZENS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND CALLING FOR
THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF SUCH CITIZENS
Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Fetterman, Mr. Van Hollen,
Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Casey, Mr. Coons, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. King, Mrs.
Murray, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Bennet, Mrs.
Shaheen, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Booker, Mr. Welch, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Wyden,
and Ms. Warren) submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 629
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has
arbitrarily and cruelly arrested United States citizens under
false pretenses in order to extract bargaining leverage on
unrelated matters;
Whereas the Russian Federation is a permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council;
Whereas, on March 29, 2023, the Government of the Russian
Federation arrested United States citizen and accredited Wall
Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on fraudulent
charges of espionage for his reporting on the Russian
economy;
Whereas Gershkovich has spent more than one year in
pretrial detention in the notorious Lefortovo prison in
Moscow, including in isolation with limited access to medical
care and attorneys;
Whereas, even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union never
held a journalist from the United States for similar long-
term detention, with the closest parallel being the 1986
arrest and 13-day detainment of U.S. News and World Report
journalist Nicholas Daniloff;
Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10,
2023, that Gershkovich has been wrongfully detained by the
Government of the Russian Federation;
Whereas, on December 28, 2018, the Government of the
Russian Federation arrested United States citizen Paul Whelan
and later convicted him on June 15, 2020, on fraudulent
espionage charges;
Whereas Whelan has spent nearly four years in various high-
security jails and labor camps in the Russian Federation,
while enduring solitary confinement, forced labor, and the
denial of medical care;
Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10,
2023, that Whelan has been wrongfully detained by the
Government of the Russian Federation;
Whereas United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation
Lynne Tracy publicly stated on March 26, 2024, following Evan
Gershkovich's court hearing, ``Evan's case is not about
evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using
American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the
Kremlin is doing in the case of Paul Whelan'';
Whereas, on June 2, 2023, the Government of the Russian
Federation arrested United States citizen and Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on
politically motivated charges of working as a foreign agent
and ``spreading falsehoods about the Russian military,'' and
who now faces a prison sentence up to 15 years;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has
repeatedly denied consular access, basic medical care, and
ordered Kurmasheva to remain in pre-trial detention in prison
conditions Kurmasheva described as ``inhumane'';
Whereas, on August 14, 2021, the Government of the Russian
Federation arrested United States citizen and international
schoolteacher Marc Fogel for possession of medical marijuana
prescribed by his physician, then sentenced him on June 16,
2022, to an excessive 14-year sentence in a Russian labor
camp;
Whereas lawyers from the Russian Federation informed
Fogel's family that the typical sentence for the offense is
five years of probation, and in 2019, the same Russian court
sentenced a Russian defendant to eight years in prison for
the possession of 1,500 grams of various narcotics;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation sentenced
Fogel to punishment vastly disproportionate to the severity
of his nonviolent crime, wildly dissimilar to the typical
punishments for comparable offenses in the Russian
Federation, and clearly motivated by ongoing political
tensions between the Russian Federation and the United
States;
Whereas, on January 28, 2024, the Government of the Russian
Federation arrested United States citizen and amateur
ballerina Ksenia Khavana on fraudulent charges of high
treason during a visit to the Russian Federation after she
donated $50 to a charity supporting humanitarian aid for
Ukraine;
Whereas Khavana has been held in a high-security prison
with no access to hot water or heat during winter, and faces
a 20-year sentence with limited means of legal defense;
Whereas, on February 17, 2022, the Government of the
Russian Federation arrested Brittney Griner on trumped-up
charges, kept her in detention for approximately ten months,
and eventually released her on December 8, 2022, in exchange
for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout;
Whereas, on April 11, 2022, the Government of the Russian
Federation arrested United States permanent resident Vladimir
Kara-Murza for criticizing renewed invasion of Ukraine by the
Russian Federation and resulting ongoing war and the
criminality of the Government of the Russian Federation, and
sentenced Kara-Murza on April 17, 2023, to a 25-year sentence
for ``high treason'';
Whereas human rights groups in the Russian Federation
estimate that the Government of the Russian Federation holds
nearly 20,000 political prisoners in Russian jails,
including, until his February 2024 death in a Siberian gulag,
opposition leader Alexei Navalny;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has
kidnapped more than 19,000 Ukrainian children and abducted
them to the Russian Federation, resulting in President
Vladimir Putin being indicted by the International Criminal
Court for war crimes;
[[Page S2650]]
Whereas, under Vladimir Putin, Russian courts are neither
independent nor fair in the administration of justice and are
entirely beholden to the political whims of Putin;
Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has
refused to provide neither minimal due process nor fair
independent legal proceedings for United States citizens
Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana;
Whereas the Department of State has called for the release
of Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana;
Whereas the arrest and continued detention of Gershkovich,
Whelan, Kurmasheva, Fogel, and Khavana amount to hostage
taking by the Government of the Russian Federation: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) condemns--
(A) the arbitrary arrest and continued detention of United
States citizens Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu
Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, and Ksenia Khavana, and United States
permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza by the Government of
the Russian Federation;
(B) the hostage taking of United States citizens by a
Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council; and
(C) the ongoing persecution, arrest, and political
imprisonment of ordinary Russian citizens and human rights
defenders who call for the end of the war in Ukraine and
demand freedom in the Russian Federation;
(2) urges the Department of State to determine that Alsu
Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, Ksenia Khavana, and Vladimir Kara-
Murza have been wrongfully detained by the Government of the
Russian Federation; and
(3) calls on the immediate and unconditional release of
United States citizens Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu
Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, and Ksenia Khavana, and United States
permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I want to address what can only be
called the hostage-taking of Americans by the government of Vladimir
Putin of Russia. The list is troubling and growing.
This month marks the 1-year anniversary of Wall Street Journal
reporter Evan Gershkovich's dubious arrest in Russia. He has spent more
than a year in pretrial detention in a notorious Moscow prison,
including in isolation, with limited medical attention. Even during the
height of the Cold War, the Soviet police state didn't arrest and hold
American journalists in such a brazen and transparently crude manner.
The longest was a U.S. News & World Report reporter, who was released
after 13 days.
But it is not just Evan whom Vladimir Putin is holding hostage. In
2018, Russia arrested American citizen Paul Whelan and sentenced him to
16 years in prison on fraudulent espionage charges. He has spent 4
years in various Russian high-security jails and labor camps, enduring
solitary confinement and forced labor.
Last year, Russia arrested American citizen and Radio Free Europe
journalist Alsu Kurmasheva for being a foreign agent. She is facing a
5-year sentence. While in pretrial detention, her conditions are being
described as ``inhumane.''
In August 2021, Russia arrested American citizen and international
schoolteacher Marc Fogel for possessing medical marijuana prescribed by
his physician. Then they sentenced him to a ludicrous 14-year sentence
in Russian labor camps.
Earlier this year, Russia arrested American citizen Ksenia Khavana on
nonsense charges of high treason after she donated--get this--$50 to a
charity supporting humanitarian aid for Ukraine. For that, she is
facing a 20-year sentence in prison.
Two years ago, Russia also arrested U.S. legal permanent resident
Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentencing him to 25 years for criticizing Putin's
disastrous war in Ukraine.
These are some of the photographs of the individuals whom I have just
described.
Mr. Kara-Murza was a visitor in my office. I know him personally. I
met with him a month before his arrest. And, despite two murder
attempts by poisoning, he was determined to go back to Russia to fight
for democracy. Evgenia, his wife, is here this week for a bipartisan
event on the anniversary of his arrest.
And let us not forget Brittney Griner, whose arrest in 2022 on
trumped-up charges was cynically used to secure the release of
notorious Russian arms merchant Viktor Bout.
It is outrageous that Russia, a permanent member of the United
Nations Security Council, is holding hostage American citizens. It is
the act of a desperate rogue regime, similar to the criminal actions of
countries like Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.
Today, I am introducing a resolution condemning Russia's hostage-
taking, calling for the immediate release of these hostages and urging
the administration to consider ``wrongfully detained'' status.
And, to those detained and their families, I want you to know you are
not forgotten. We will continue to advocate for your release.
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