Senior Policy Advisor of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Bakhti Nishanov, who sits on the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, announced today on X that two American Congressmen, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced a bipartisan congressional resolution requiring the U.S. to not recognize Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s legitimacy when his term expires on May 7.
Good example of a well-meant idea that exposes how self-limiting & bureaucratic Western nations are in dealing with an actual war and a terrorist dictatorship. Putin is illegitimate NOW and is murdering people NOW, but we’ll pass a resolution, May 7, etc. Need action & urgency. https://t.co/x7TvuKJ6TU
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) March 20, 2024
Note: This weekend, the Kremlin reported that Putin won his sixth term by winning 87% of vote in a presidential election. European leaders including former Prime Minister — now British Foreign Secretary — David Cameron said of the election: “Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media, and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy.”
[Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) quipped to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky: “You know why [Putin] got 87 percent? Because he didn’t want 88 — that would look bad.”]
The resolution that Reps. Wilson and Cohen have presented to the House cites the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that “one and the same person may not be elected President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms running.
The resolution also noted that the election “was held over 7 days and was conducted not only in regular polling places but also in makeshift locations, including park benches, car trunks, and shopping carts, with ballots stored overnight by the electoral commissions with no independent oversight.”
Cohen wrote: “Voter coercion & KGB-style tactics allowed Putin to remove term limits and extend his rule beyond May 7, 2024. He’s a human rights abuser and a fraud.”
Here is @RepCohen and my statement on the sham Russian “elections:” pic.twitter.com/HBrrFZCiKa
— Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) March 19, 2024
Russian chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, who fled Russia in 2013, responded: “Good example of a well-meant idea that exposes how self-limiting & bureaucratic Western nations are in dealing with an actual war and a terrorist dictatorship. Putin is illegitimate NOW and is murdering people NOW, but we’ll pass a resolution, May 7, etc. Need action & urgency.”