[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.
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