Pending the enactment of such a law, the existing judicial system is also governed by the law of the Russian Federation; according to this law, it is a unified judicial system because it does not contemplate independent judicial systems of the subjects of the Russian Federation.
It means that regardless of their territorial location all subordinate courts within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court or Supreme Arbitration Court are federal courts and that the only regional courts in Russia are constitutional courts of the subjects and so-called peace courts. Two de facto federal interventions were exercised in Chechnya without imposing any special legal regime in the region.
Presidents Yeltsin and Putin used their commander-in-chief powers to deploy troops to Chechnya. Obviously, a legal emergency regime would have imposed restrictions not only on those against whom such a regime was aimed Chechen terrorists and separatists but also on those who were ordered to implement it armed forces and special police units. The structure of bodies of local government shall be determined by the population independently.
Local self-government bodies may have recourse to the courts if their rights are infringed. New legislation permits elected officials in bodies of local self-government to serve simultaneously in regional legislatures. There are three types of associations of local self-government: federal, interregional, and regional. Such associations are a relatively new phenomenon in Russia. The first of them — Association of Siberian Cities — was created in The Union of Russian Cities proved to be the most influential association: it participated in drafting the new Russian Constitution and in drafting federal legislation on local self-government.
Recent Changes and Future Trends Issues of federalism are among core elements of contemporary far-reaching reforms in Russia. According to the decree, the plenipotentiary representatives in the federal districts each of them as large as Western Europe are appointed and relieved of their duties by the president upon a recommendation of his chief of staff.
If instructed by the president, the envoys organize conciliation measures to resolve disagreements between federal and regional authorities. He may obtain information from federal and regional bodies of authority, local self-governments, and organizations located within a given federal district, and he may dispatch his deputies and staff to work directly in regional bodies and local self-governments. The plenipotentiary representative may receive complaints from the citizens in his district and forward them to the relevant bodies, and he may recommend commendation of, or disciplinary action against, the heads of certain agencies within his district.
Under Yeltsin, there had been a presidential envoy in each of the 89 regions, but they had been powerless next to the elected regional governors. Re-elected in a landslide in March , Putin began his second term with a sweeping initiative aimed at redistributing powers between the federal centre and regions and reducing the number of constituent units. First, a proportional election system was introduced for the State Duma. The next Duma will be elected in accordance with party ballots alone.
The new law provides that each political party must have at least 50, members, with regional chapters boasting at least people each. Second, the regional election system was overhauled. New electoral laws state expressly that, from now on, all territorial governors shall be elected by territorial legislatures in line with presidential recommendations.
In Tatarstan transferred to the federal budget 16 percent of the tax revenue that it was supposed to transfer; Bashkortostan 12 percent; Ingushetia 11 percent; Karelia 5 percent; Yakutia, the main producer of diamonds in Russia, — 0 percent; and so on. In the respective figures were slightly higher: Yakutia, for instance, paid 0. Between and the federal Ministry of Justice reviewed 44, normative legal acts adopted in Russian regions and found that one-third of them failed to comply with federal legislation.
It is hard to agree with authors who proclaim that, historically, Russia has tended to federalism. For more than a thousand years Russia was a strong unitary state, flexible enough to have territorial autonomies yet not a federation. The existence, and remarkable economic development, of China as a unitary state negates the argument that big countries should necessarily have a federal structure.
Even though Russia is a multiethnic country, ethnic minorities constitute no more than 15 percent of its population, making it comparable to France. Even among ethnic republics named after a titular nation, there are very few in which the titular group constitutes a majority. In economic terms, only 14 to 16 subjects of the federation have proved to be fully sustainable, and these play the role of donors in the Russian federal budget.
The budgets of all other units are formed sometimes up to The Russian Federation in its present transitional form is a country of stunning disparities, and this fact makes the development of a normal and stable nation extremely challenging.
The gross regional product GRP of the most advanced region Moscow, with its In terms of GRP per capita, there is a fold gap between the Khanty-Mansi autonomous area , rubles and Ingushetia 12, rubles. For comparison, there is a narrower gap in GDP per capita between the richest and the poorest regions of Europe those regions being Hamburg in Germany and Epeirus in Greece, respectively than in Russia. The average income of a Moscow resident 14, rubles a month is nearly double the average for the rest of the country 7, rubles.
Russia may abolish national-state entities in the future simply because having 89 constituent members of the federation is extremely cumbersome. In the process of reform, the number of regions may be sharply reduced. Regions with approximately equal population are supposed to coincide to the maximum extent with the borders of the historically established economic regions.
For comparison, at the time of Peter the Great Russia had only eight provinces; during the rule of Catherine the Great there were 40 provinces; in there were 56 provinces and regions on the territory of present-day Russia. The federal government has taken a number of measures aimed at eliminating ethno-territorial federalism in the country, changing the status of ethnic republics and bringing them down to the level of ordinary regions.
First, the State Duma has passed a law that gives the federal president authority to remove popularly elected regional leaders, including presidents of ethnic republics. Second, the division of Russia into seven federal districts each comprising about ten to twelve subjects of the federation may eventually lead to the merging of ethnic and non-ethnic entities within federal districts.
The powers to be delegated include authority over forestry, environmental policy, cultural landmarks, education, and science. Regional leaders will regain oversight powers of the regional heads of many federal ministries and agencies, such as the Ministry of Justice, the Interior Ministry, and the Ministry for Emergency Situations. The list of such ministries does not, however, include the Federal Security Service or the Defence Ministry.
Governors will also receive increased authority over licensing, but federal agencies will retain sole authority to issue licences to extract natural resources such as oil and gas. According to Russian observers, overall the latest Putin initiative will return to the heads of regions of their original powers.
The rationale behind this idea is that the failure of the regional authorities to effectively use their numerous powers to ensure the proper use of allocated funds aggravates economic problems, increases the unemployment rate, and eventually strengthens extremism. In such cases, direct federal rule from Moscow would be a necessary and justified measure. The first and most immediate step in implementing the new reform is the abolition of the matryoshkas nesting dolls.
It was decided that the liquidation of the nesting dolls would occur after the government had gained the necessary experience and perfected the techniques of unification. The policy of unification itself has the strategic purpose of simplifying and optimizing the federal structure, under which the territories are to become economically solvent and more equal subjects of the federation, capable of carrying the burden of responsibility and independence.
On 30 June Putin signed a federal constitutional law on the formation of a new subject of the federation — Perm territory krai , which was formed as a result of the merger of Perm region oblast and the Komi-Permyak autonomous area. He also submitted to the State Duma a draft law that would create a new subject of the Russian Federation by merging the Krasnoyarsk territory krai and the Evenk and Taimyr autonomous areas. The decision on the merger of those federal units was adopted in popular referendums held on 17 April Voters in all three regions voted overwhelmingly in favour of unification.
The draft law also calls for completing the process of forming state bodies in the new region by 31 December It was also confirmed that elections to legislative bodies will be held in 17 Russian regions in The first points of reform were the changes under which State Duma elections will be held on party lists alone and the heads of Russian regions will be elected by legislative assemblies after being nominated by the president rather than by direct vote.
The purpose of the Public Chamber is to facilitate citizen involvement in state administration and to exercise public control over the activities of state institutions. First, the president of Russia who can be considered the founding father of the chamber appoints one-third of its members: 42 citizens.
After that, the state and the president will no longer be able to influence the Public Chamber. The duty of the state will only be to provide funding and organizational support. Every year, 30 percent of the members are to be replaced. Members of the Public Chamber are supposed to be authoritative, prominent public figures who will work on a voluntary basis.
If they are members of a political party, their membership in the party will be suspended as party bias must not hinder the work of the new body. The Public Chamber will form a number of commissions, but uniting along national, religious, and even regional lines in the chamber will be prohibited. It is expected that the Public Chamber will closely cooperate with the lower chamber of the Federal Assembly.
The heads of two institutions agreed that the Public Chamber, as a structure of civil society and expert community, will be able to prepare its findings for the first reading of socially important draft laws. To this end, members of the chamber may attend meetings of the committees and commissions of the State Duma and address plenary sessions of the Duma.
How they will do this is yet to be decided. Overall, it is clear that, despite the constitutional provisions and all official statements to the contrary, Russia has unsettled relations with federalism. Federalism in Russia is hardly a destiny: it is more a marriage of convenience. The outcome of this experiment cannot yet be predicted. Notes 1 Total territory of the country equals 17,, square kilometres, with 16,, square kilometres of land, and 79, square kilometres of water.
Knopf, [] , William E. Butler Leiden: A. Sijthoff, , For details, see A. For instance, in the number of people infected with syphilis rose by 50 times from about 4, to more than , Guboglo Moscow: IntelTekh, , For more than a decade, Russia has been losing up to half a percent of its population a year. The 89 subjects are listed in alphabetical order. Kukushkin, ed. Quoted in Marat S. Praeger, , By some evaluations, these amendments replaced almost three-quarters of the original text of the Constitution.
Together, they form about one-third of the chamber and constitute the largest group within the Council. This provision was dramatically tested in March , when President Yeltsin, in violation of his own Constitution, nominated not three different candidates but the same person, Sergei Kirienko, three times.
Facing an imminent dissolution, the State Duma surrendered and approved the candidate after Yeltsin nominated him for the third time. The government of Kirienko was short-lived, however. Smirnyagin, ed. Russia is not unique in this respect. She was never registered by the Central Election Commission as a presidential candidate because a random examination of signatures presented by Starovoitova for her registration showed that half of them were made by the same hand.
Trying to break the gridlock, in December legislators and President Yeltsin came to the following compromise: Yeltsin would sign the act simultaneously introducing amendments to it. Russia has had four presidential elections since introduction of the presidency in Boris Yeltsin won in the first round in and in the second round in Vladimir Putin won in a landslide in the first round of the presidential elections of and Sawyer, U.
These areas are extremely rich in oil and natural gas and are the main operating grounds of Gazprom and other major Russian oil companies. Respective views of Moscovites are 35 percent versus 9 percent. They usually deal with civil, administrative, and criminal cases as a court of first instance.
Peter Reddaway and Robert W. Orttung Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, , 2. Orttung, eds. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, See Reddaway, Dynamics of Russian Politics, See Rossiyskaya gazeta Moscow , 25 June Between mid and June , the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice reviewed 16, normative legal acts adopted in the regions and found 7, of them to be out of compliance with the federal Constitution or legislation.
Regions fill these legislative lacunae with legal instruments that are often controversial. See B. Topornin, Yu. Baturin, R. G Orekhov, eds. In the Republic of Adygeya, for instance, ethnic Adygs constitute See also P. Hanson and M. Petersburg could be merged with the Leningrad, Kaliningrad, Novgorod, and Pskov regions into the Northwestern province. One notable example of autocratic leaders using this power to harass their political enemies occurred in Rwanda.
Rusesabagina was then returned to Rwanda on false terrorism charges. Kanter is an outspoken member of a religious group that largely opposes the Turkish President. Original co-sponsors of the bipartisan bill include Helsinki Commissioners Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick PA , Rep. Ruben Gallego AZ , Rep. Richard Hudson NC , Rep. Gwen Moore WI , and Rep. Marc Veasey TX Tom Malinowski NJ , and Rep. Peter Meijer MI also are original co-sponsors. The COVID pandemic underscored how the digital divide disproportionately affects women and girls, she explained, and stressed the threat that widespread use of digital technologies can pose to fundamental freedoms if used indiscriminately by authorities.
Panelists highlighted opportunities for digital technologies to benefit societies and human rights defenders, as well as dangers they can pose to human rights. Maia Rusakova, associate professor of sociology at St.
Petersburg State University, warned that data collection technologies have facilitated online recruitment by human traffickers. However, facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and tracking blockchain financial transactions and social media activity could play a role in combatting the digital threats of human trafficking. Susie Alegre, an associate at the human rights NGO Doughty Street Chambers, highlighted how cutting-edge data collection can raise awareness of threats to human rights, support investigations, facilitate positive social change, and support human rights defenders.
Elif Kuskonmaz, a lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, cautioned that misuse of facial recognition technology could pose threats to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech, and that it could be exploited to wrongfully detain citizens. To prevent such abuse, she recommended that participating States adopt adequate legal frameworks concerning the collection, use, storage, and sharing of personal data.
Other panelists explored the capacity of artificial intelligence systems to reinforce existing structural inequalities through algorithms and the subsequent human rights implications. Civil Society Concerns about Government Use—or Abuse—of Digital Technology Civil society participants shared human rights concerns related to governmental use of digital technologies. Many urged the OSCE to call out repressive behavior and help participating States establish adequate legal protections against misuse.
Several urged the United States and the European Union to target sanctions against the worst offenders. Many participants also took the opportunity to raise human rights concerns directly with government officials, and alleged misuse of data collected by government agencies to persecute human rights defenders, social activists, and their families.
A German NGO called for the abolition of facial recognition technology due to its use by law enforcement to profile specific ethnic groups and minorities, including Roma and Sinti. Several NGOs argued that their governments exploited conditions imposed by the pandemic to use surveillance camera footage, geolocation data, and contact tracing as part of a domestic surveillance campaign to discourage public political dissent.
Participants highlighted how technology has been used to spread racist messaging, including the racist abuse of English football players following the recent Union of European Football Associations Euro matches. Many voiced their dismay that social media companies do not hold accountable individuals who spread racist content. Participants recommended that social media companies implement more robust algorithms to detect racist remarks.
Participating States Respond Several participating States addressed the use of technology. The European Union recognized the importance of addressing human rights abuses that arise from the misuse of digital technologies. Turkey responded by touting its law on data protection and emphasizing its multiculturalism.
The Holy See responded that it is necessary to improve education in proper use and effects of technology. The Holy See also called for international regulations to guarantee the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to private personal electronic communication.
RADA, which was signed into law last December, allows the United States to prosecute individuals for doping schemes at international events involving American athletes, sponsors or broadcasters. The July Aug. They will not be clean, that much I guarantee," Jim Walden, attorney for Rodchenkov, told the hearing.
As resilient as the Mob proved to be, it pales in comparison to the deeply entrenched corruption in international sports. Walden said Congress could super-size RADA's impact if it uses its oversight authority to ensure the FBI and Justice Department have a complete plan and allocate sufficient resources to bring cases. He also said a second imperative would be to withhold funding for the World Anti-Doping Agency until more transparency and Executive Committee comprised primarily of former clean athletes and anti-doping scientists are achieved.
Edwin Moses, emeritus chair of the U. Moses said the state-sponsored doping of the Russians competing at the Sochi Olympics was shocking, but even worse was a "lack of repercussions" that he described as a nightmare realized and one that we have not yet woken from. It was inspiring to see the extraordinary economic advances of Estonia and Bulgaria. While in Tallinn, we learned that Russian diplomats had been expelled in April across the Baltics to join the protest of the Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, exposing the irrefutable evidence that two Russian GRU agents were behind the ammunition depot explosion at Vrbetice, which killed two persons.
The same two Russian agents named by the Czech Republic are suspected by British authorities for poisoning former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in The Czech Republic has correctly demanded Russia pay for damages. Madam President, I take this time to talk about the work of the U. The two of us have worked together in a nonpartisan, bipartisan manner in regards to the work of the Helsinki Commission. The Commission works on the principle of three buckets: one for political affairs and security, another for economic and environmental progress, and the third on democracy and human rights.
So I think of the initiatives that we have had in the Helsinki Commission for dealing with trafficking in humans and the legislation that came out of that and how we led the global response to dealing with trafficking.
I think about the efforts we made in regards to tolerance, dealing with anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance and how we have made progress throughout the entire OSCE region.
I think about the issues we did in regards to sanctions against human rights violators so they cannot use our banking system or visit our country, the Magnitsky-type sanctions. All of that came out of the work of the Helsinki Commission.
So one of the major arms of our work is the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which is the group of parliamentarians who meet every year and have meetings throughout the year to exchange views and to carry out the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. And we had a chance to do this in a hybrid manner. So we were able to travel strong from the U. Congress to be at that meeting, and we were joined by five others here in the United States, including our Presiding Officer, to participate in the Parliamentary Assembly, and we were able to advance a lot of very important issues.
But I must tell you, we were noticed at this meeting. I know that Senator Wickerwill talk about this. He is one of the great leaders of the Parliamentary Assembly. He is Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly. We are very proud of the leadership position that he holds. We had multiple candidates and several elected to Vice-Presidents, but Senator Wicker led the ballot with the largest number of votes, which I think speaks to his well-thought-of respect among the OSCE parliamentarians.
We wanted to make sure that this was a substantive meeting. But that is not the way we operate. We have to take up current issues. So we took up the issue of tolerance. I was happy to sponsor a resolution that ultimately passed by unanimous vote that speaks to anti-Semitism, racism, intolerance, and the growth of hate in the OSCE region.
But we also made sure that we considered the recent elections in Belarus and how unfair those elections were and how Mr. Lukashenko has been acting in a way that is so contrary to the human rights of the people who live there, and the election results there do not reflect the will of the people. We also had a chance to make sure we took up the issues concerning Ukraine.
Once again, there was a lot of controversy on why you should bring that up during this meeting. We did. Richard Hudson, Representative Hudson, will be the chair of the first committee. So we are going to have active participation in the Parliamentary Assembly. We had the chance to visit some other countries.
But if I might, I think I am going to yield the floor and give my good friend and the leader of our congressional delegation trip an opportunity to expand on some of the things we were able to do in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
With that, I yield the floor. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Maryland, who has been such a leader in the area of human rights and international recognition of the challenges that our world faces today.
I do appreciate his leadership and his partnership. We have worked shoulder to shoulder on so many issues. Yes, I proudly rise with him this afternoon to talk about a very valuable series of meetings that our member delegation had in 4 countries in Europe in recent days.
This was Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate, a truly bipartisan and bicameral delegation—a very large delegation—which I think my colleague will agree made a strong statement on behalf of the United States of America and on behalf of the U.
House and Senate about the way we view European engagement and our partnership and friendship with the plus member countries of the OSCE and their Parliamentary Assembly.
As Senator Cardin mentioned, we met with great success. Yes, I was reelected to the position of vice president, and I appreciate the support of Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate in helping me get those votes to receive another three-year term there. Richard Hudson, our colleague from the House of Representatives, has been very active as chairman of Committee No. He is highly regarded. He was reelected without opposition. So there are two bits of success there. And then the great piece of work, actually, was with regard to Senator Cardin's initiative on the rising hate and intolerance that we are seeing all around the world, particularly among member countries of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Senator Cardin actually took the lead in challenging the leadership of the Parliamentary Assembly in saying that issues should be discussed. And Senator Cardin was able to get his resolution considered and passed overwhelmingly, and we made a strong statement on behalf of countering the rising hate and intolerance and countering the use of these things to buttress authoritarianism and to stoke conflict around the world.
We also passed a very important resolution about the tragedy, the outrage that has gone on in Belarus. I can tell you, the opposition party leader from Belarus was in this Capitol building just yesterday talking about the importance of support from places like the United States Congress.
I can tell you, Madam President, that Senator Shaheen and I are about to send a letter to our colleagues asking any and all of us to join a Freedom Caucus for the Belarusian people, the Belarus Freedom Caucus. We asked the opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to tell us whether that would be helpful. She said the formation of this caucus to support the freedom movement in Belarus would be a strong signal.
It would be well received and effective on behalf of the opposition leadership there in Belarus. Then, again, we reiterated our opposition to what Russia has done in Ukraine and particularly to the recent Russian military buildup and ongoing aggression in Ukraine.
We did a lot there with the Parliamentary Assembly. We went on to Estonia, met with leadership there—a former President, the current Prime Minister, other leaders. From there, we joined the Three Seas conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. I can tell you, this is a group of Eastern European former Soviet Bloc countries that are striving to be in charge of their own infrastructure and rely less on the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. I think the fact that 12 Americans showed up, participated, met with Heads of state at that conference made a very strong statement of American support for freedom and for looking westwardly in trying to get their problems solved and their infrastructure needs met.
We also had a very meaningful visit to Norway, where we saw some American-Norwegian defense initiatives. I am very proud of the partnership that this Helsinki Commission—our organ of the American OSCE PA—and the way that we joined together to express our support for freedom, for democracy, for the rule of law, for opposing corruption, both at the petty local level and also at the larger State-sponsored level.
One other thing before I yield back and let my friend close. Particularly in Bulgaria, but also all during our trip, we were met with hearty thanks for the United States leadership in the global Magnitsky Act. This began as an initiative with Senator Cardin, Senator Lieberman, Senator McCain, and me several years ago directed—during the Obama administration—directed toward individual Russians who had violated human rights and individual liberty in a very outrageous and gross way, allowing us to sanction individuals rather than causing harm to the people of Russia in that case.
That has been expanded now to the global level and other countries are adopting this. But I can tell you, when we arrived in Bulgaria, we were met with great thanks from people who are trying to combat lawlessness and corruption at the top level of government. I just have to say, of course, Ben Cardin has been the premier leader in this worldwide effort.
It was gratifying to know and to learn firsthand on the ground there in Sofia, Bulgaria, that an initiative that began right here in this U. Senate years ago, and continues to this day, is having a beneficial effect on the people all across Europe and particularly in some of the countries that we visited. I yield back to the Senator from Maryland. The Senator from Maryland. Madam President, let me again thank Senator Wicker.
Thank you for your leadership on so many issues. But on this congressional delegation, for those who are not familiar, it is not easy to put together the type of opportunities to advance American values.
And Senator Wicker took the responsibility as the leader of our delegation to make sure that we had the opportunities to advance American values. I thank him for all the effort he put into it. It was certainly extremely successful. I just want to emphasize a few things before closing. That is the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has the responsibility of monitoring the nuclear programs throughout the world.
Obviously, it has played a bigger role in regard to the program in Iran, and it was monitoring exactly what was happening in Iran under the JCPOA. And I think it was helpful for all of us to understand exactly the role that the IAEA can play in regard to getting us information about what is happening on the ground in Iran.
We showed our support by going to Narva, which is on the Russian border. It is a town that has a majority of Russian-speaking Estonians. It is an interesting community. But we could see across the river, very clearly, the Russian patrol boats.
We know and heard firsthand of the concern of the Estonians. They saw what happened in Ukraine and they worry that same thing could happen in Estonia with Russian aggression.
I must tell you, our presence to reinforce the NATO commitment, I think, was an extremely important message that we gave to the Estonian people. Would the gentleman yield on that point? I would be glad to yield. The Senator from Mississippi.
If I might add, people in Narva, Estonia, and people in the city across the river have access to each other across a bridge there. And it is clear to the people on the Russian side that their cousins and friends in Narva, Estonia, live a better life and have a better standard of living in this free country, this NATO ally called Estonia, than the Russian cousins and friends have on the other side. I just thought I would add that to the discourse before Senator Cardin moves on to discussing Norway and Bulgaria.
Thank you. Madam President, let me move onto Bulgaria very briefly. Senator Wicker did cover Bulgaria. It is an initiative by twelve states that are basically part of the Eastern European Coalition, states that are developing democratic institutions and democratic economies after the fall of the Soviet Union.
They need to build up their resilience as a collective entity in energy, transportation, and digital infrastructure. The Three Seas Initiative is to attract investment to connect the twelve countries together on infrastructure needs. It is for many reasons. It is for its own economic strength and growth, but also for resiliency against the efforts of China on its Belt and Road Initiative, which is trying to infiltrate these countries and convert their way of economy to more of the Chinese system.
The Three Seas Initiative is an effort to have their own independent way of attracting capital. The United States is participating in the Three Seas. We are not a member, but we are participating and providing resources for the fund that is being developed that would be leveraged for these type of investments. While we were in Bulgaria, we had a chance to have bilateral meetings.
There were twelve heads of state there. We had very constructive discussions about what is happening in their country. We raised Helsinki issues with all these countries. Senator Wicker already talked about how we were welcomed by the Bulgarian leadership in regards to the imposition of the Magnitsky sanctions. We are heroes. They feel like they have a second chance to try to develop the type of anti-corruption mechanisms that they desperately need. Our visit to Varna, which is on the Black Sea, was very educational to see how Russia is trying to dominate the Black Sea area and one of the reasons why they are so aggressive in Ukraine and the Crimea.
I think that was extremely helpful for us to understand the security risks and how we have to work with our NATO partners to protect the Black Sea area, particularly from the potential aggression—not potential—from the aggression of Russia. Also in Bulgaria, we had a chance to visit a Roma village. It is not my first visit to a Roma village. I have visited over the years. It is a real tragic situation. The Roma population have been in Europe for centuries.
They lived in communities for hundreds of years, yet they do not have property rights. They have lived in their homes, and yet they do not have the opportunity to have their homes registered.
And at any time, the government can come in and take away their property without compensation. They rarely have reliable utilities. The village we visited did not have water systems, so they had to use outhouses, et cetera. They had limited availability of fresh water.
Their utility service is not reliable. And they go to segregated schools. So we, once again, will raise the rights of the Roma population as part of our commitment under the Helsinki Commission, and we are following up with the local officials to try to help in that regard. Then, lastly, on our way back, we visited Norway. I learned a lot because I did not know about the pre-positioning program. I know my friend Senator Wicker already knew about this from his Armed Services service, but it is where we pre-position equipment so that we can respond rapidly to a circumstance anywhere in the world.
The Norway pre-positioning is actually used to help us in regard to the Middle East and our needs in the Middle East. So it was an extremely, extremely, I think, productive visit to these countries. I think we did carry out our commitment under the Helsinki Commission, and we advanced American values.
I think we represented our country well, and we were very well noticed. Madam President, one other thing that our colleagues might not understand about the OSCE is their role in election observation.
As we were leaving Sofia on the morning of July 11, we crossed paths with some other representatives from the OSCE from European countries who were there to observe the parliamentary elections being held in Bulgaria that very day. We have every hope that the results of these elections will be a further resolve in those two nation members to counter the corruption at the highest level, and we want to congratulate both of those member states of the OSCE for free and fair elections in Europe.
With that, I thank my colleague. I yield the floor. This groundbreaking extraterritorial criminal authority redefined doping as fraud and enables U. The Olympics in Tokyo, which start July 23, will be the first major test of this new law as U. At this hearing, witnesses discussed the importance of the Rodchenkov Act for victims of doping fraud and what athletes should expect going forward.
Finally, witnesses provided their perspectives on how the new law fits into the broader anti-doping movement and efforts to reform the World Anti-Doping Agency.
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