[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5597-S5598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6065. Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. Graham) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. 
Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to be proposed to the 
bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for 
military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

        At the end of subtitle C of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1239. DESIGNATION OF THE RUSSIA FEDERATION AS A STATE 
                   SPONSOR OF TERRORISM.

       (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Russia 
     is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act''.
       (b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) United States law authorizes the designation of 
     countries that have repeatedly provided support for acts of 
     international terrorism as state sponsors of terrorism.
       (2) Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, 
     and Syria have been 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 and nation states.
       (4) Under the orders of President Putin, the Government of 
     the Russian Federation engaged in a campaign of terror that 
     utilized brutal force to target its 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 2014, the Government of the Russian Federation--
       (A) has supported separatists engaging in acts of violence 
     against Ukrainian civilians in the Donbas region; and
       (B) has detained United States citizens as hostages.
       (7) The Government of the Russian Federation provides 
     material support to Syria, a nation currently designated as a 
     state sponsor of terrorism.
       (8) According to the Congressional Research Service, 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''.
       (9) The Wagner Group collaborates with the Ministry of 
     Defense of the Russian Federation to support the foreign 
     policy objectives of the Russian Federation.
       (10) The Department of the Treasury--
       (A) has identified the Wagner Group as ``a designated 
     Russian Ministry of Defense proxy force''; and
       (B) has stated that ``Wagner's activities in other 
     countries, including Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and Libya, have 
     generated insecurity and incited violence against innocent 
     civilians''.

[[Page S5598]]

       (11) In February 2022, more than 400 Russian mercenaries 
     from the Wagner Group were dispatched to Kyiv with orders 
     from the Kremlin to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 
     and members of the Government of Ukraine.
       (12) On March 1, 2022, Jason Blazakis, former Director of 
     the Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office, Bureau 
     of Counterterrorism, Department of State, 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.''.
       (13) On March 17, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky called 
     for the world to acknowledge the Russian Federation as a 
     terrorist state.
       (14) 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''.
       (15) On May 24, 2022, Ukrainian prosecutors accused 2 
     Wagner Group mercenaries of committing war crimes against 
     civilians near Kyiv.
       (16) On July 18, 2022, the United Kingdom's Ministry of 
     Defence confirmed that the Wagner Group plays a central role 
     in recent fighting in Ukraine, including Russia's capture of 
     Popasna and Lysyschansk.
       (17) 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.
       (c) Designation of the Russian Federation as a State 
     Sponsor of Terrorism.--
       (1) In general.--Beginning on the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, the Russian Federation shall be deemed to have 
     repeatedly provided support for acts of international 
     terrorism and shall be designated as a state sponsor of 
     terrorism pursuant to--
       (A) section 1754(c)(1)(A)(i) of the Export Control Reform 
     Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4813(c)(1)(A)(i));
       (B) section 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
     (22 U.S.C. 2371(a));
       (C) section 40(d) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 
     2780(d)); and
       (D) any other relevant provision of law.
       (2) Technical and conforming amendments.--Section 
     1605A(h)(6) of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
       (A) by inserting ``Congress or'' before ``the Secretary of 
     State''; and
       (B) by striking ``section 6(j) of the Export Administration 
     Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)),''.
       (d) Waiver.--The President may remove the designation 
     required under subsection (c)(1) on the date that is 30 days 
     after the date on which the President certifies to the 
     Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee 
     on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, the 
     majority leader and minority leader of the Senate, and the 
     Speaker, majority leader, 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 
     interests of the United States.
                                 ______