[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 27, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3736-S3737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALLING ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO DESIGNATE THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
AS A STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM
Mr. KELLY. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the
consideration of Calendar No. 433, S. Res. 623.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. Res. 623) calling on the Secretary of State to
designate the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of
terrorism.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill,
which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations, with
an amendment to strike all after the resolving clause and insert the
part printed in italic and an amendment to strike the preamble and
insert the part printed in italic as follows:
S. Res. 623
Whereas, pursuant to section 1754(c) of the John S. McCain
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (50
U.S.C. 4813(c)), section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act
(22 U.S.C. 2779A), and section 620A of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371), the authority to designate a
country as a state sponsor of terrorism rests with the
Secretary of State;
Whereas Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
Iran, and Syria are designated as state sponsors of
terrorism;
Whereas, 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;
Whereas, under the orders of President Putin, the
Government of the Russian Federation engaged in a campaign of
terror, utilizing brutal
[[Page S3737]]
force targeting civilians during the Second Chechen War;
Whereas 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;
Whereas, since 2014, the Government of the Russian
Federation has supported so-called separatists engaging in
acts of violence against Ukrainian civilians in the Donbas
region;
Whereas, since the entry of the Russian Federation into the
Syrian Civil War in 2015, the Russian Federation has targeted
innocent civilians in Syria with attacks on civilian markets,
medical facilities, and schools;
Whereas 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;
Whereas the Russian Federation spreads terror throughout
the world through private military networks of mercenaries,
such as the Wagner Group, in an effort to project power
cheaply and deniably;
Whereas the Wagner Group relies on the support of the
Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense to advance the
foreign policy objectives of the Russian Federation;
Whereas 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'';
Whereas 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;
Whereas, 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'';
Whereas, on March 17, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky
called for the world to acknowledge the Russian Federation as
a terrorist state;
Whereas 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'';
Whereas, at the direction of President Putin, the Russian
Federation has directed and authorized the indiscriminate
targeting of civilian centers within Chechnya, Georgia,
Syria, and Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of countless
innocent men, women, and children; and
Whereas armed forces of the Russian Federation have
committed numerous summary executions against innocent
civilians and have attempted to cover their atrocities with
mass graves across Ukraine: Now, therefore, be it
SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE.
The Senate--
(1) views the actions of the Government of the Russian
Federation, at the direction of President Vladimir Putin, as
sponsoring acts of terrorism; and
(2) calls on the Secretary of State to designate the
Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
SEC. 2. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this resolution shall be construed as
authorizing the use of military force or the introduction of
United States forces into hostilities.
Mr. KELLY. I ask unanimous consent the committee-reported substitute
amendment to the resolution be agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was
agreed to.
Mr. KELLY. I know of no further debate on the resolution, as amended.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate, the question is
on adoption of the resolution, as amended.
The resolution (S. Res. 623), as amended, was agreed to.
Mr. KELLY. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported
amendment to the preamble be agreed to, the preamble as amended be
agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and
laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
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