[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 license issued by the United 
        States Government for contracts entered into during the 2-year 
        license period and shipped during the 2-year period beginning 
        on the date on which the contract is signed.
            (2) Certain transactions in support of nongovernmental 
        organizations' activities.--The designation of the Russian 
        Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism pursuant to section 
        4(a) shall not impact certain transactions in support of 
        nongovernmental organizations' activities in Ukraine set forth 
        in paragraph (b) of General License Number 23, which was issued 
        by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of 
        the Treasury on March 11, 2022.
            (3) Other requirements.--Except as provided in paragraph 
        (4), the requirements under a 2-year license issued pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) may not be more restrictive than license 
        exceptions administered by the Department of Commerce or 
        general licenses administered by the Department of the 
        Treasury.
            (4) Denial of license to certain entities.--The Secretary 
        of Commerce shall establish procedures to deny licenses for 
        exports to the Russian Federation.
    (b) Quarterly Reports.--The applicable department or agency of the 
Federal Government shall submit a quarterly report to the appropriate 
congressional committees that describes any activities undertaken 
pursuant to subsection (a) during the most recently concluded calendar 
quarter.
    (c) Biennial Reports.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter, the applicable 
department or agency of the Federal Government shall submit a report to 
the appropriate congressional committees regarding the operation of the 
licensing system required under this section during the preceding 2-
year period, which shall include--
            (1) the number and types of licenses for which applications 
        were submitted;
            (2) the number and types of licenses that were approved;
            (3) the average amount of time elapsed between the date on 
        which the license application was filed and the date on which 
        the license was approved;
            (4) the extent to which the licensing procedures were 
        effectively implemented; and
            (5) a description of comments received from interested 
        parties about the extent to which the licensing procedures were 
        effective, after the applicable department or agency holds a 
        public 30-day comment period.

SEC. 6. CONDITIONS FOR REMOVING THE STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM 
              DESIGNATION FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

    The President may remove the designation required under section 
4(a) on the date that is 30 days after the date on which the President 
certifies to the appropriate congressional committees, the majority 
leader and minority leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and minority 
leader of the House of Representatives, that--
            (1) the Russian Federation is no longer supporting acts of 
        international terrorism; and
            (2) removing such designation is in the national security 
        interest of the United States.
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