Sec. 101. Findings; sense of Congress
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Congress makes the following findings: On February 24, 2022, the Government of the Russian Federation violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine by engaging in a premeditated, second illegal invasion of Ukraine. The international community has condemned the illegal invasions of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, as well as the commission of war crimes by the Russian Federation, including through the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and the commission of sexual violence.
The leaders of the G7 have called the Russian Federation’s unprovoked and completely unjustified attack on the democratic state of Ukraine a serious violation of international law and a grave breach of the United Nations Charter and all commitments Russia entered in the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris and its commitments in the Budapest Memorandum . On March 2, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution ES–11/1, entitled Aggression against Ukraine , by a vote of 141 to 5.
That resolution deplore[d] in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine in violation of Article 2(4) of the [United Nations] Charter and demanded that the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders . On March 16, 2022, the International Court of Justice issued provisional measures ordering the Russian Federation to immediately suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine .
On November 14, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution— recognizing that the Russian Federation must bear the legal consequences of all of its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts; recognizing the need for the establishment of an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss, or injury caused by the Russian Federation in Ukraine; and recommending creation of an international register of such damage, loss, or injury.
Under international law, a country that is responsible for an internationally wrongful act is under an obligation to compensate for the damage it has caused if such damage cannot be made good by restitution. The Russian Federation bears such responsibility to compensate Ukraine, and because of this grave breach of international law, all states are legally entitled to take countermeasures that are proportionate and aimed at inducing the Russian Federation to comply with its international obligations, including countermeasures that suspend ordinary international obligations to the Russian Federation, to help enforce the obligation of the Russian Federation to compensate Ukraine.
It is the sense of Congress that, having committed an act of aggression, as recognized by the United Nations General Assembly on March 2, 2022, the Russian Federation is to be considered as an aggressor state. The extreme illegal actions taken by the Russian Federation, including an act of aggression, present a unique situation, requiring and justifying the establishment of a legal authority to compensate victims of aggression by the Russian Federation in Ukraine. In this case, that authority is the authority of the United States Government and other countries to confiscate Russian sovereign assets in their respective jurisdictions to help enforce the obligation of the Russian Federation to compensate Ukraine.