Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act
This bill designates Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. (A country with this designation is subject to certain restrictions, including a ban on receiving U.S. defense exports and limits on receiving U.S. foreign assistance.)
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3979 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3979
To provide for the designation of the Russian Federation as a state
sponsor of terrorism.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 9, 2023
Mr. Lieu (for himself, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr.
Golden of Maine, Mr. Buck, and Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the designation of the Russian Federation as a state
sponsor of terrorism.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Russia is a State Sponsor of
Terrorism Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Pursuant to existing law, it is United States policy to
designate countries that have repeatedly provided support for
acts of international terrorism as state sponsors of terrorism.
(2) Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea,
Iran, and Syria are designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
(3) At the direction of President Vladimir Putin, the
Government of the Russian Federation has and continues to
promote acts of international terrorism against political
opponents and nation states.
(4) Under the orders of President Putin, the Government of
the Russian Federation engaged in a campaign of terror,
utilizing brutal force targeting civilians during the Second
Chechen War.
(5) Actions by the Government of the Russian Federation
against civilian centers, such as Grozny, the capital of
Chechnya, left countless innocent men, women, and children dead
or wounded.
(6) Since 2014, the Government of the Russian Federation
has supported separatists engaging in acts of violence against
Ukrainian civilians in the Donbas region.
(7) The Government of the Russian Federation provides
material support to Syria, a nation currently designated as a
state sponsor of terrorism, that has been used to target the
Syrian people.
(8) According to the Congressional Research Service, the
Russian Federation uses private military networks of
mercenaries, such as the Wagner Group, which collaborates with
the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, to support
the foreign policy objectives of the Russian Federation. These
private mercenary networks supported by the Russian Federation
have spread terror in various parts of the world.
(9) The Department of the Treasury identifies the Wagner
Group as ``a designated Russian Ministry of Defense proxy
force'' and states that ``Wagner's activities in other
countries, including Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and Libya, have
generated insecurity and incited violence against innocent
civilians''.
(10) It was reported in February 2022 that more than 400
Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group were dispatched to
Kyiv with orders from the Kremlin to assassinate President
Volodymyr Zelensky and members of the Government of Ukraine.
(11) On March 1, 2022, Jason Blazakis, the director of the
Department of State's Counterterrorism Finance and Designations
Office in the Bureau of Counterterrorism from 2008 to 2018,
wrote in reference to white supremacist groups that ``Russia
provides sanctuary to a U.S.-designated terrorist group, the
Russian Imperial Movement, which operates with impunity in
Russian territory.''.
(12) On March 17, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky called
for the world to acknowledge the Russian Federation as a
terrorist state.
(13) The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has appealed to Congress
to encourage the Department of State to recognize the Russian
Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism noting that ``the
Russian Federation has for years supported and financed
terrorist regimes and terrorist organizations, including being
the main supplier of weapons to the Assad regime in Syria and
supporting terrorists in the Middle East and Latin America,
organizing acts of international terrorism, including the
poisoning of the Skripal family in the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, the downing of a civilian
Malaysian airliner and other acts of terrorism''.
(14) On November 23, 2022, the European Parliament
recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
(15) On November 23, 2022, the European Parliament
recognized the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of
terrorism.
(16) On January 26, 2023, the Department of the Treasury
designated the Wagner Group as a Transnational Criminal
Organization, citing that ``Wagner personnel have engaged in an
ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass
executions, rape, child abductions, and physical abuse in the
Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali''.
(17) As of January 26, 2023, the Wagner Group has also been
sanctioned by Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and
the European Union.
(18) On February 25, 2023, the European Union implemented
Council Regulation 2023/430, which sanctioned eight people and
seven entities for serious human rights abuses linked to the
Wagner Group in the Central African Republic and Sudan.
(19) On February 27, 2023, United Nations Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres called Russia's actions in Ukraine ``the most
massive violations of human rights'' in the world today in a
speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
(20) The United States has a range of tools available to
hold the Russian Federation accountable, reduce its war
machine, and isolate it economically and diplomatically,
including by designating it as a state sponsor of terrorism and
imposing corresponding sanctions.
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AS A STATE SPONSOR OF
TERRORISM.
(a) In General.--Effective beginning on the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Russian Federation shall be deemed to have been
determined to be a country the government of which has repeatedly
provided support for acts of international terrorism for purposes of--
(1) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Control Reform Act
of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4813(c)(1)(A));
(2) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2371);
(3) section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C.
2780); or
(4) any other provision of law.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act may be construed as
to provide for the imposition of sanctions against any person that
engages in transactions to export agricultural products from Ukraine or
to provide humanitarian assistance in Ukraine.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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