II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5164 

To designate the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist 

organization, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 1, 2022 

Mr. WICKER (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To designate the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group as a 

foreign terrorist organization, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holding Accountable 

5 Russian Mercenaries Act’’ or the ‘‘HARM Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Secretary of State’s designation of an 

9 entity as a foreign terrorist organization results 

10 from a determination that— 


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1 (A) the entity is foreign and engages in 

2 terrorism or terrorist activity; and 

3 (B) the terrorist activity threatens the se4 curity of the United States or its nationals. 

5 (2) The activities of the PMC Wagner Group 

6 and affiliated entities of Russian national Yevgeniy 

7 Prigozhin pose a threat to the national interests and 

8 national security of the United States and allies and 

9 partners of the United States, including with respect 

10 to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which President Biden 

11 declared, on March 2, 2022, ‘‘pose[s] an unusual 

12 and extraordinary threat to the national security 

13 and foreign policy of the United States’’. 

14 (3) On June 20, 2017, the Department of the 

15 Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control des16 ignated PMC Wagner and its military leader, 

17 Dmitry Utkin, pursuant to Executive Order 13660 

18 (titled ‘‘Blocking Property of Additional Certain 

19 Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine’’) 

20 ‘‘for being responsible for or complicit in, or having 

21 engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies 

22 that threaten the peace, security, stability, sov23 ereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine’’. 

24 (4) On September 20, 2018, the Department of 

25 State added Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his affiliated 


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1 entities, including the PMC Wagner Group, to the 

2 list of persons identified as part of, or operating for 

3 or on behalf of, the defense or intelligence sectors of 

4 the Government of the Russian Federation under 

5 section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries 

6 Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9525). 

7 (5) The PMC Wagner Group, a self-described 

8 private actor that undertakes military action and 

9 subversive operations at the behest of the Govern10 ment of the Russian Federation, is a ‘‘terrorist 

11 group’’ that engages in ‘‘terrorism’’ (as defined in 

12 section 140(d) of the Foreign Relations Authoriza13 tion Act, Fiscal Year 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. 

14 2656f(d))), which is ‘‘premeditated, politically moti15 vated violence perpetrated against noncombatant 

16 targets by subnational groups or clandestine 

17 agents’’. 

18 (6) The PMC Wagner Group and its affiliated 

19 entities have committed, or are credibly accused of 

20 committing, terrorist activity (as defined in section 

21 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality 

22 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)), through their involve23 ment in— 

24 (A) the massacres, rape, and torture of ci25 vilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in March 2022; 


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1 (B) the massacres in Moura, Mali, in 

2 March 2022; 

3 (C) the massacres of migrant workers and 

4 civilians in mining regions along the Sudan5 Central African Republic border in 2022; 

6 (D) the murder of Russian journalists in 

7 the Central African Republic in June 2018 as 

8 well as threats against United States journalists 

9 investigating such incident; 

10 (E) the kidnapping of children in the Cen11 tral African Republic in 2022 to work in mines; 

12 (F) the rape and sex trafficking of women 

13 and children in the Central African Republic 

14 between 2018 and 2022; 

15 (G) the sabotage and lethal suppression of 

16 civilian protestors in Sudan in 2019; 

17 (H) the use of nerve agents against 

18 Libya’s Government of National Accord and de19 ployment of illegal landmines and booby-traps 

20 in civilian areas of Tripoli between 2019 and 

21 2020; 

22 (I) the torture and execution of a Syrian 

23 national in June 2017; and 

24 (J) efforts to assassinate Ukrainian Presi25 dent Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022. 


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1 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group 

4 meets the criteria for designation by the Secretary 

5 of State as a foreign terrorist organization under 

6 section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

7 Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)); and 

8 (2) the Secretary of State should designate the 

9 PMC Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organiza10 tion under such section 219. 

11 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF PMC WAGNER GROUP AS A FOR12 EIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

15 shall designate the PMC Wagner Group as a foreign ter16 rorist organization in accordance with section 219(a) of 

17 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)). 

18 (b) APPLICATION.—The designation required under 

19 subsection (a) shall equally apply to any affiliated and suc20 cessor entities to the PMC Wagner Group undertaking 

21 malign activities against the United States and its allies 

22 and partners, including activities taking place in Ukraine, 

23 Africa, and the Middle East. 

24 (c) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica25 tion of sanctions under this section if the President deter26 mines and reports to the appropriate congressional comVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:54 Dec 02, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5164.IS S5164

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1 mittees that such a waiver is in the national security inter2 est of the United States. 

3 (d) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term ‘‘ap4 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 

5 (1) the Committee on Armed Services of the 

6 Senate; 

7 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

8 Senate; 

9 (3) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

10 Urban Affairs of the Senate; 

11 (4) the Committee on Financial Services of the 

12 House of Representatives; 

13 (5) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

14 House of Representatives; 

15 (6) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

16 House of Representatives; and 

17 (7) the Committee on Armed Services of the 

18 House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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