; Whereas voting 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; Whereas in violation of the laws of the Russian Federation and the commitments of the Russian Federation under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe, of which Russia was a member at the time, Russian authorities did not invite international observers to monitor the vote and limited domestic observers to those appointed by state-controlled Public Chambers; Whereas the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation began announcing the results of the vote before voting had concluded; Whereas in a statement following the voting, the leaders of the United States delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Senator Roger Wicker and the late Representative Alcee Hastings, said that the outcome of this vote was decided long before the ballots were tallied and that State-sponsored fraud, coercion, and obfuscation make it impossible to know the true will of the Russian people ; Whereas Senator James Risch, then-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, has stated that the sham vote, masquerading as a referendum, has swept away all remnants of Putin’s legitimacy ; Whereas the Department of State has held that [a]round the world, as a matter of principle, the United States opposes constitutional amendments that favor incumbents or extend their terms in office, particularly in contexts where necessary conditions for free and fair democratic processes are lacking ; Whereas Vladimir Putin has violated every international norm and obligation freely undertaken by the Russian Federation with his unprovoked and brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine