[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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