III 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 623 

Calling on the Secretary of State to designate the Russian Federation as 

a state sponsor of terrorism. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 9, 2022 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. PORTMAN) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Relations 

JULY 11, 2022 

Reported by Mr. MENENDEZ, with an amendment and an amendment to the 

preamble 

JULY 27, 2022 

Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the Secretary of State to designate the Russian 

Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism. 

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; 


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•SRES 623 ATS 

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 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; 


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•SRES 623 ATS 

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 


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•SRES 623 ATS 

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 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE. 

3 The Senate— 

4 (1) views the actions of the Government of the 

5 Russian Federation, at the direction of President 

6 Vladimir Putin, as sponsoring acts of terrorism; and 

7 (2) calls on the Secretary of State to designate 

8 the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of ter9 rorism. 

10 SEC. 2. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

11 Nothing in this resolution shall be construed as au12 thorizing the use of military force or the introduction of 

13 United States forces into hostilities. 

Æ 


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