[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4625 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4625
To provide for the designation of the Russian Federation as a state
sponsor of terrorism.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 20, 2024
Mr. Graham (for himself and Mr. Blumenthal) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
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 ``Designating the Russian Federation
as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) United States law authorizes the designation of
countries as state sponsors of terrorism if they have
repeatedly provided support for acts of international
terrorism.
(2) The Republic of Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Syrian Arab
Republic are currently designated as state sponsors of
terrorism.
(3) At the direction of President Vladimir Putin, the
Government of the Russian Federation has promoted, and
continues to promote, acts of international terrorism against
political opponents, foreign nationals, and nation states.
(4) Under the orders of President Vladimir Putin, the
Government of the Russian Federation engaged in a campaign of
terror that utilized brutal force to target civilians and
civilian centers, such as Grozny (the capital of Chechnya)
during the Second Chechen War, which left countless innocent
men, women, and children dead or wounded.
(5) In 2004, agents of the Government of the Russian
Federation allegedly poisoned then candidate for President of
Ukraine and informal opposition coalition leader, Viktor
Yushchenko, with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (commonly
known as ``TCDD'').
(6) In 2006, agents of the Government of the Russian
Federation allegedly poisoned a former officer of the Federal
Security Service of the Russian Federation, Alexander
Litvinenko, with the rare and highly toxic radionuclide
polonium-210 while Mr. Litvinenko was in London.
(7) In 2014, the Russian Federation illegally seized and
annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine by military force.
(8) In 2014, the Wagner Group, a private military company,
was established following the Russian Federation's illegal
seizure and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and has since--
(A) been subject to United States Government
sanctions for its involvement in the Russian
Federation's initial invasion of Ukraine;
(B) been added to the Department of Commerce's
Entity List set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744
of the Export Administration Regulations for violating
international law and fueling the conflict in eastern
Ukraine;
(C) been identified by the Department of the
Treasury as ``a designated Russian Ministry of Defense
proxy force'';
(D) been redesignated by the Office of Foreign
Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury
pursuant to Executive Order 13581 for being ``a foreign
person that constitutes a significant transnational
criminal organization'', due to the Wagner Group's
``ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity,
including mass executions, rape, child abductions and
physical abuse''; and
(E) had additional sanctions placed on individuals
who have directly or indirectly acted on behalf of the
Wagner Group, even after the death of the former head
of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
(9) Since 2014, the Government of the Russian Federation
has supported separatists engaging in acts of violence against
Ukrainian civilians in the Donbas region.
(10) On July 27, 2014, the Government of the Russian
Federation supplied the surface-to-air missile used by pro-
Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine to shoot down Malaysia
Airlines Flight 17, which resulted in the deaths of 298
innocent men, women, and children.
(11) In September and October 2016, an aerial bombing
campaign launched by the Russian-Syrian coalition against the
city of Aleppo, Syria killed at least 430 people and struck
civilian targets, including the al-Sakhour Medical Center.
(12) In 2018, intelligence assessments by the United States
Government concluded that President Vladimir Putin ordered the
poisoning of former Russian military officer and double agent
for British intelligence agencies Sergei Skripal and his
daughter, Yulia Skripal, in the United Kingdom.
(13) The Government of the Russian Federation has entered
into trade deals with the Republic of Cuba, a nation that is
currently designated a state sponsor of terrorism, with the
intent to continue to increase bilateral trade between the two
countries, which reached $450,000,000 in 2022, which was a 200
percent increase in the value of trade between the two
countries compared to 2021.
(14) The Government of the Russian Federation has received
diplomatic support from the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, another nation that is currently designated a state
sponsor of terrorism, and a nation that has recognized the
Russian Federation's illegal annexation of Donetsk, Kherson,
Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia as legitimate.
(15) The Government of the Russian Federation has provided
and continues to provide military and technical support to the
Islamic Republic of Iran, a third nation that is currently
designated a state sponsor of terrorism, in return for weapons,
including unmanned aerial vehicles, which the Russian
Federation has used extensively in Ukraine, including against
civilian targets.
(16) The Government of the Russian Federation provides
material support to the Syrian Arab Republic, a fourth nation
that is currently designated a state sponsor of terrorism and a
nation that has targeted innocent civilians with attacks on
civilian markets, medical facilities, and schools.
(17) On February 25, 2022, the day after Russia launched
its full scaled invasion of Ukraine, and pursuant to Executive
Order 14024 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note), which authorizes sanctions
against Russia for its harmful foreign activities, including
violating well-established principles of international law such
as respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
other states, the United States imposed sanctions on--
(A) the President of the Russian Federation,
Vladimir Putin;
(B) the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian
Federation, Sergei Lavrov;
(C) the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed
Forces of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov; and
(D) the Minister of Defense of the Russian
Federation, Sergei Shoigu.
(18) On February 25, 2022, following the imposition of
sanctions, the Department of the Treasury released a statement
that reads, in part, ``President Putin and Minister Lavrov are
directly responsible for Russia's unprovoked and unlawful
further invasion of Ukraine, a democratic sovereign state. It
is exceedingly rare for Treasury to designate a head of state;
President Putin joins a very small group that includes despots
such as Kim Jong Un, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and Bashar al-
Assad.''.
(19) On March 1, 2022, Jason Blazakis, former Director of
the Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office, Bureau of
Counterterrorism, Department of State, wrote ``Russia provides
sanctuary to a U.S.-designated terrorist group, the Russian
Imperial Movement, which operates with impunity in Russian
territory.''.
(20) On March 14, 2022, Chairperson-in-Office of the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Zbigniew
Rau, stated that actions of the Government of the Russian
Federation in Ukraine against innocent civilians and civilian
infrastructure is ``state terrorism''.
(21) On March 17, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky called for the world to acknowledge the Russian
Federation as a terrorist state.
(22) In July 2022, it was reported that between 2013 and
2021 the Governments of the Russian Federation and the Syrian
Arab Republic had carried out at least 58 double-tap air
strikes in residential areas in the Syrian Arab Republic
outside of government-held territory that targeted rescue
personnel responding to assist civilian casualties caused by
the initial air strikes.
(23) On July 27, 2022, during the 117th Congress, the
Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Secretary
of State to designate the Russian Federation as a state sponsor
of terrorism.
(24) On November 23, 2022, the European Parliament
designated the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of
terrorism for its military strikes on civilian targets,
including energy infrastructure, hospitals, schools and
shelters.
(25) As of December 21, 2022, four NATO allies have
formally declared that the Russian Federation is a state
sponsor of terrorism.
(26) On December 21, 2022, President Zelensky, speaking
before a joint meeting of the United States Congress, called on
the United States to ``let the terrorist state [of Russia] be
held responsible for its terror and aggression [towards
Ukraine]''.
(27) On March 17, 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the
International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the
President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the
Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Office of the
President, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for the war crime of
unlawful deportation of children and the unlawful transfer of
children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian
Federation.
(28) On February 16, 2024, Aleksey Navalny, a Russian
opposition leader and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin,
was reported dead after Russian officials announced he died
from ``sudden death syndrome''.
(29) On February 16, 2024, following reports of the death
of Aleksey Navalny, President Biden stated ``Make no mistake:
Putin is responsible for Navalny's death. What has happened to
Navalny is more proof of Putin's brutality'', which built on
his earlier comments that ``the consequences of [Navalny's
death] would be devastating for Russia.''.
(30) On March 5, 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the
International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the
Commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Aerospace Force,
Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, and Commander of the Black Sea
Fleet, Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, for the war crime of
directing attacks at civilian objects, the war crime of causing
excessive incidental harm to civilians and damage to civilian
objects, and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts.
(31) The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has appealed to Congress
to encourage the Department of State to designate 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.''.
(32) While those who oppose designating the Russian
Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism claim such
designation would prevent diplomatic engagement between the
Russian Federation and the United States, section 112b of title
1, United States Code (commonly known as the ``Case-Zablocki
Act'') does not prohibit the President of the United States nor
the Secretary of State from engaging diplomatically and
entering into international agreements with any foreign
government that is designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.
(33) The United States has previously engaged
diplomatically and entered into agreements with governments
designated as state sponsors of terrorism, including--
(A) in 1984, 1994, and 1995 when the United States
and the Republic of Cuba negotiated a number of joint
communiques and joint statements related to migration
procedures;
(B) in 1996, when the United States entered into
three agreements with the Islamic Republic of Iran
related to the resolution of claims before the Iran-
United States Claims Tribunal and the International
Court of Justice;
(C) in 2010, when the United States held security
talks with the President of the Syrian Arab Republic;
(D) in 2013 and 2015, when the United States and
the Islamic Republic of Iran participated in and signed
the multinational Joint Plan of Action and the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action, respectively;
(E) in 2018 and 2019, when the President of the
United States held a series of bilateral meetings with
the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea; and
(F) by maintaining United States Embassy or
interest section operations in the Republic of Cuba and
the Syrian Arab Republic while the respective countries
were designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
(34) The United States has a range of tools available--
(A) to hold the Russian Federation accountable;
(B) to reduce the Russian Federation's war machine;
and
(C) to isolate the Russian Federation economically
and diplomatically, including--
(i) by designating the Russian Federation a
state sponsor of terrorism; and
(ii) by imposing corresponding sanctions.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Agricultural commodity.--The term ``agricultural
commodity'' has the meaning given such term in section 102 of
the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602).
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate;
(B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate;
(D) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
(E) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(F) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry of the Senate;
(G) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate;
(H) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representatives;
(I) the Committee on Financial Services of the
House of Representatives;
(J) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of
Representatives;
(K) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives;
(L) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives;
(M) the Committee on Agriculture of the House of
Representatives; and
(N) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives.
(3) Medical device.--The term ``medical device'' has the
meaning given the term ``device'' in section 201(h)(1) of the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(h)(1)).
(4) Medicine.--The term ``medicine'' has the meaning given
the term ``drug'' in section 201(g)(1) of the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(g)(1)).
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AS A STATE SPONSOR OF
TERRORISM.
(a) Designation.--Upon the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
State shall designate the Russian Federation a state sponsor of
terrorism pursuant to--
(1) section 1754(c) of the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (50 U.S.C. 4813(c));
(2) section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C.
2780);
(3) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2371); and
(4) any other relevant provision of law.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--Section 1605A(h)(6) of
title 28, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by inserting ``Congress or'' before ``the Secretary of
State''; and
(2) by striking ``section 6(j) of the Export Administration
Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)),''.
SEC. 5. EXCEPTIONS.
(a) In General.--
(1) License requirement.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of this Act, the export of agricultural commodities,
medicine, or medical devices to the Russian Federation may only
be made pursuant to a 2-year