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Washington, D.C. – This week, House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Chairman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) introduced H.R. 7276, the Ukraine Invasion War Crimes Deterrence and Accountability Act. This bill will ensure the U.S. has a coordinated effort to collect evidence to be used to prosecute Russian war crimes in Ukraine, and will help to deter future war crimes by ensuring Russian troops and their commanders know the world is watching closely.

“Based on the reports coming out of Ukraine, it is clear that Putin and the armed forces of the Russian Federation are committing war crimes,” Rep. McCaul said. “It is vital that the U.S. and the free world build a case against Russia for their atrocities and work to deter them from committing future war crimes. We owe the brave Ukrainian people this commitment.”

“Vladimir Putin’s unlawful and unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine has pummeled civilian targets, including schools and hospitals, flattened cities, and killed or injured civilians,” Rep. Meeks said. “This legislation requires the Administration to detail the process our government will undertake to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence of these war crimes, so that perpetrators of these and other atrocities are held accountable. It also requires the Administration to describe the process through which a domestic, foreign, or international court or tribunal could request and obtain information related to war crimes or other atrocities from the United States. In introducing the Ukraine War Crimes Act, the U.S. Congress is sending an unequivocable message to Putin’s regime that we will work tirelessly to hold perpetrators of war crimes and other atrocities to justice.”

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