[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8696 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8696
To provide for the designation of the Russian Federation as a state
sponsor of terrorism.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 7, 2026
Mr. Lieu (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, and Mr. Cohen)
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 Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014
followed by a full-scale invasion of Ukraine starting in 2022,
the Government of the Russian Federation has facilitated and
supported acts of violence against Ukrainian civilians.
(7) As of September 2025, the Government of Ukraine
estimates at least 648 children have been killed, more than
2,100 have been wounded, and millions are suffering trauma and
disrupted education since the start of President Vladimir
Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
(8) The Government of Ukraine estimates that the Russian
Federation has kidnapped, deported, or displaced at least
20,000 Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation, Russian-
occupied territories, and other locations, and continues to
practice such illegal and inhumane actions.
(9) The Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian
Research Lab has assessed that children from Ukraine have been
taken to at least 210 facilities inside Russia and temporarily
occupied territories of Ukraine since the start of Russia's
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Re-education activities
involving children from Ukraine have occurred in at least 130
identified sites.
(10) The Government of the Russian Federation provided
material support to the regime of former Syrian leader Bashar
Al Asad, a nation currently designated as a state sponsor of
terrorism, that was used to target the Syrian people.
(11) According to the Congressional Research Service, the
Russian Federation uses networks of mercenaries, such as the
Wagner Group and its successors, which are overseen by the
Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, to support the
foreign policy objectives of the Russian Federation. These
mercenary networks supported by the Russian Federation have
spread terror in various parts of the world.
(12) In 2020, the Department of the Treasury identified the
Wagner Group as ``a designated Russian Ministry of Defense
proxy force'' and stated that ``Wagner's activities in other
countries, including Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and Libya, have
generated insecurity and incited violence against innocent
civilians''.
(13) 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''.
(14) The Wagner Group has also been sanctioned by
Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom, and the European Union.
(15) 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.''.
(16) On March 17, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky called
for the world to acknowledge the Russian Federation as a
terrorist state.
(17) 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''.
(18) On November 23, 2022, the European Parliament
recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
(19) 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.
(c) Sunset.--This section shall terminate on the date that is the
earlier of--
(1) the date on which the Secretary of State determines
that the Government of the Russian Federation and the
Government of Ukraine have entered into negotiations to end the
conflict in Ukraine; or
(2) 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. OTHER PROVISIONS.
(a) Inapplicability of Certain Provisions of Law.--Notwithstanding
section 201 of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (Public Law
107-297; 28 U.S.C. 1610 note), or any other provision of law, no
blocked or frozen asset of the Russian Federation, or of any agency or
instrumentality thereof, shall be subject to attachment, execution, or
other judicial process in satisfaction of any judgment against the
Russian Federation arising from its designation as a state sponsor of
terrorism under section 3.
(b) Retention of Executive Authority.--All such assets shall remain
subject to the authority of the President, the Secretary of the
Treasury, and other appropriate officials of the executive branch to
administer, license, vest, transfer, or otherwise dispose of in
furtherance of the foreign policy interests of the United States,
including support for Ukraine and implementation of the Rebuilding
Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act (the REPO for
Ukrainians Act).
(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to limit the rights of victims of terrorism to seek
compensation from other sources available under law.
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