; Whereas the Government of Russia voluntarily signed the Belovezha Accords, which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the recognition as interstate borders of the administrative boundaries among the former republics of the Soviet Union; Whereas the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the emergence of 15 independent nations: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turk­men­is­tan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan; Whereas all of these nations are heir to the promise and principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter; Whereas Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania availed themselves of these principles and joined both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as did Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia; Whereas this development has created historically unprecedented peace and prosperity in Central and Eastern Europe; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has violated the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter in a clear, gross and thus far uncorrected manner, and is in violation of its international obligations to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all its neighbors; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has violated its obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which provided security assurances to Ukraine relating to Kyiv giving up its nuclear weapons; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has asserted the purported right to a sphere of influence in at least the territory of the former Soviet Union; Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has asserted the purported right and duty to protect ethnic Russians, Russian speakers, and Russian citizens wherever they may live, and whether or not they seek such protection