II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 416 

To designate the Russian-based mercenary Wagner Group as a foreign 

terrorist organization, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2023 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To designate the Russian-based mercenary 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: 


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

2 entity as a foreign terrorist organization results 

3 from a determination that— 

4 (A) the entity is foreign and engages in 

5 terrorism or terrorist activity; and 

6 (B) the terrorist activity threatens the se7 curity of the United States or its nationals. 

8 (2) The activities of the Wagner Group and af9 filiated entities of Russian national Yevgeniy 

10 Prigozhin pose a threat to the national interests and 

11 national security of the United States and allies and 

12 partners of the United States, including with respect 

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

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

15 and extraordinary threat to the national security 

16 and foreign policy of the United States’’. 

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

18 Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control des19 ignated the Wagner Group and its military leader, 

20 Dmitry Utkin, pursuant to Executive Order 13660 

21 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property 

22 of certain persons contributing to the situation in 

23 Ukraine) ‘‘for being responsible for or complicit in, 

24 or having engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions 

25 or policies that threaten the peace, security, staVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S416.IS S416

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1 bility, sovereignty or territorial integrity of 

2 Ukraine’’. 

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

4 State added Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his affiliated 

5 entities, including the Wagner Group, to the list of 

6 persons identified as part of, or operating for or on 

7 behalf of, the defense or intelligence sectors of the 

8 Government of the Russian Federation under section 

9 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries 

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

11 (5) On January 20, 2023, a White House 

12 spokesperson announced that the Department of the 

13 Treasury will designate the Wagner Group as a sig14 nificant transnational criminal organization pursu15 ant to Executive Order 13581 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; 

16 relating to blocking property of transnational crimi17 nal organizations), consistent with the authority 

18 granted to the President under section 203(a) of the 

19 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

20 U.S.C. 1702). 

21 (6) The Wagner Group, a self-described private 

22 actor that undertakes military action and subversive 

23 operations at the behest of the Government of the 

24 Russian Federation, is a ‘‘terrorist group’’ that en25 gages in ‘‘terrorism’’ (as defined in section 140(d) of 


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1 the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 

2 Year 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. 2656f(d))), which 

3 is ‘‘premeditated, politically motivated violence per4 petrated against noncombatant targets by sub5 national groups or clandestine agents’’. 

6 (7) The Wagner Group and its affiliated enti7 ties have committed, or are credibly accused of com8 mitting, terrorist activity (as defined in section 

9 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality 

10 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B))), through their in11 volvement in— 

12 (A) the massacres, rape, and torture of ci13 vilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in March 2022; 

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

15 March 2022; 

16 (C) the massacres of migrant workers and 

17 civilians in mining regions along the Sudan18 Central African Republic border in 2022; 

19 (D) the murder of Russian journalists in 

20 the Central African Republic in June 2018 as 

21 well as threats against United States journalists 

22 investigating such incident; 

23 (E) the kidnapping of children in the Cen24 tral African Republic in 2022 to work in mines; 


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1 (F) the rape and sex trafficking of women 

2 and children in the Central African Republic 

3 between 2018 and 2022; 

4 (G) the sabotage and lethal suppression of 

5 civilian protestors in Sudan in 2019; 

6 (H) the use of nerve agents against 

7 Libya’s Government of National Accord and de8 ployment of illegal land mines and booby-traps 

9 in civilian areas of Tripoli between 2019 and 

10 2020; 

11 (I) the torture and execution of a Syrian 

12 national in June 2017; 

13 (J) efforts to assassinate Ukrainian Presi14 dent Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022; and 

15 (K) the receipt of weapons shipments ini16 tially reported in December 2022 from the 

17 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which 

18 the Secretary of State had designated a state 

19 sponsor of terrorism on November 20, 2017. 

20 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

21 It is the sense of Congress that— 

22 (1) the Russian-based mercenary Wagner 

23 Group meets the criteria for designation by the Sec24 retary of State as a foreign terrorist organization 


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1 under section 219(a) of the Immigration and Na2 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)); and 

3 (2) the Secretary of State should designate the 

4 Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organization 

5 under such section 219(a). 

6 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF THE MERCENARY WAGNER 

7 GROUP AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANI8 ZATION. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Upon the enactment of this Act, 

10 the Secretary of State shall designate the Wagner Group 

11 as a foreign terrorist organization in accordance with sec12 tion 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

13 U.S.C. 1189(a)). 

14 (b) APPLICATION.—The designation required under 

15 subsection (a) shall equally apply to any affiliated and suc16 cessor entities to the Wagner Group undertaking malign 

17 activities against the United States and its allies and part18 ners, including activities taking place in Ukraine, Africa, 

19 and the Middle East. 

20 (c) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica21 tion of sanctions under this section if the President deter22 mines and reports to the appropriate congressional com23 mittees that such a waiver is in the national security inter24 est of the United States. 


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1 (d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there3 after, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the 

4 appropriate congressional committees describing the inter5 national activities of the Russian-based mercenary Wagner 

6 Group. 

7 (e) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term ‘‘ap8 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 

9 (1) the Committee on Armed Services of the 

10 Senate; 

11 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

12 Senate; 

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

14 Urban Affairs of the Senate; 

15 (4) the Committee on Financial Services of the 

16 House of Representatives; 

17 (5) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

18 House of Representatives; 

19 (6) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

20 House of Representatives; and 

21 (7) the Committee on Armed Services of the 

22 House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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