Bill offers Russian Federation terrorism sponsor designation

U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have introduced the Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act, which designates the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST).

“Putin has crossed every line of civilized norms during the war in Ukraine and years before,” Graham said. “He has engaged in state-sponsored assassinations, the Wagner group supported by Russia terrorizes the world, and the war crimes being committed in Ukraine on a daily basis shock the conscious. If Putin’s regime is not a State Sponsor of Terrorism after all this, then the designation is meaningless. We believe that it is long past due to designate Putin’s Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism and suffer the consequences thereof because he is a terrorist. Ukrainians have been asking for this designation, and we are listening. This will be a game changer in how we deal with terrorists worldwide.”

The Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act would designate the Russian Federation as an SST, curtailing defense and technology exports to Russia; reducing foreign assistance and imposing additional financial restrictions on Russia; and eliminating Russia’s sovereign immunity in the eyes of domestic courts while opening Russia’s government to lawsuits and other civil claims from the families of victims of its state-sponsored terrorism.

“The events of these past days and weeks have shown more than ever that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism,” Blumenthal said. “What has been revealed in Ukraine’s success on the battlefield is not only its military prowess and Russia’s weakness, but also Putin’s reliance on brutal atrocities, genocide, and war crimes against the people of Ukraine. Russia has more than earned the right to be among the club of pariah nations.”