Sec. 3. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The United States has sought to support democracy in the Russian Federation and with Russian individuals since 1991, including through programming by USAID valued at $3,000,000,000 between 1992 and 2012 to support democracy, economic growth, health, women, and youth, including programming in the Russian regions. In May 1997, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (referred to in this section as NATO ) and the Russian Federation signed the NATO-Russia Founding Act, which established a NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council to build trust and communication between the two parties.
Numerous nongovernmental organizations in the United States, including the National Endowment for Democracy, American Councils, and the Institute of International Education have worked to support Russian individuals and build ties between the people of the United States and the Russian Federation. In 2012, the Russian Federation expelled the USAID, rejecting assistance meant to support Russian individuals and harming the United States-Russian Federation bilateral relationship.
In May 2015, the Russian Federation enacted a law that permits Russian authorities to extrajudicially shut down foreign and international organizations operating in Russia by declaring them to be undesirable . Russian authorities have since labeled as undesirable numerous nongovernmental organizations that have worked to strengthen the relationship between the United States and the Russian Federation, including the National Endowment for Democracy, American Councils, and the Institute of International Education.
The Russian Federation launched an illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and a brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which caused NATO to suspend cooperation with the Russian Federation. Russian opposition leader, pro-democracy activist, and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison on February 16, 2024, the day after he appeared in court in a healthy condition. Recently released Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza was unjustly imprisoned for almost 2 1/2 years for speaking out against the Russian war in Ukraine.
According to the Memorial Human Rights Center, hundreds of political prisoners remain in Russian jails, including— Moscow municipal deputy Aleksei Gorinov; pensioner Igor Baryshnikov; the mother of a human rights lawyer, Zarema Musaeva; and journalist Maria Ponomarenko.