[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 442 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 442
Expressing solidarity with the United Kingdom after the nerve agent
attack in Salisbury.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 22, 2018
Mr. Coons (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Portman, and Mrs. Shaheen)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing solidarity with the United Kingdom after the nerve agent
attack in Salisbury.
Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have a special relationship
grounded in the rule of law, democratic principles, a common language,
and a strong commitment to peace and security;
Whereas, on August 14, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, which defined American
and British war aims and laid the foundation for a post-war
international system founded on free trade and freedom of the seas that
persists to this day;
Whereas, on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his ``Iron Curtain
Speech'' in Fulton, Missouri, stating, ``Neither the sure prevention of
war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained
without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-
speaking peoples . . . a special relationship between the British
Commonwealth and Empire and the United States.'';
Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have stood side by side through
two World Wars, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and the
ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with Americans and Britons fighting
and dying together to defend our common interests and principles;
Whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have played central roles in
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and are critical to
maintaining its future strength;
Whereas, in the 1970s and 1980s, scientists in the Soviet Union developed a
group of advanced nerve agents, known as ``Novichok'', designed to
escape detection by international inspectors;
Whereas Russia is party to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their
Destruction, done at Paris January 13, 1993 (commonly known as the
``Chemical Weapons Convention''), which clearly prohibits the production
and use of chemical weapons;
Whereas former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was killed by a radioactive
substance in London in November 2006, and an inquiry by the Government
of the United Kingdom found that President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin ``probably'' approved the murder;
Whereas, on March 4, 2018, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were
found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury, United Kingdom;
Whereas dozens of British civilians and first responders were exposed to the
nerve agent, a British police officer who responded to the attack
remains seriously ill, and the lives of innocent British citizens and
residents of Salisbury have been endangered;
Whereas, on March 12, 2018, Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
in a speech before the House of Commons, noted that the attack was
conducted ``with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by
Russia. This is part of a group of nerve agents known as `Novichok''';
Whereas, on March 12, 2018, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson noted the nerve
agent ``came from Russia'' and ``does not exist widely'', and that its
use would ``certainly trigger a response'';
Whereas, on March 14, 2018, the United Kingdom expelled 23 Russian diplomats
identified as undeclared intelligence officers;
Whereas, on March 14, 2018, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki
Haley said the United States ``stands in absolute solidarity'' with the
United Kingdom and that ``the United States believes that Russia is
responsible for the attack''; and
Whereas, on March 15, 2018, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and
Germany issued a joint statement and noted the incident ``constitutes
the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second
World War'' and that ``there is no plausible alternative explanation''
to Russia's responsibility for the attack: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) reaffirms the special relationship between the United
States and the United Kingdom;
(2) expresses its solidarity with the people of Salisbury
and the United Kingdom;
(3) reiterates its commitment to collective defense and
security through NATO;
(4) wishes for the full recovery of Sergei Skripal, his
daughter, and the British police official seriously injured in
the attack;
(5) condemns the indiscriminate and reckless assault by the
Government of the Russian Federation on United Kingdom
sovereignty, and notes that any use of a nerve agent by a state
party is a clear contravention of the Chemical Weapons
Convention and a violation of international law;
(6) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to
fully and completely answer questions related to the chemical
attack and also provide full and comprehensive disclosure of
its Novichok program to the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW); and
(7) urges the President of the United States to personally
condemn the attack in clear, unambiguous terms and to take
proportionate, measured, and defensive retaliatory actions
against the Government of the Russian Federation in
coordination with United States allies in Europe.
<all>