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 and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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; 

Whereas Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of North 

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 


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•SRES 623 IS 

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 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, 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’’; 

Whereas the Wagner Group collaborates with the Ministry of 

Defense of the Russian Federation to support 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 


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•SRES 623 IS 

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 

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, on April 27, 2022, Secretary of State Antony 

Blinken stated before Congress that ‘‘there’s no doubt in 


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•SRES 623 IS 

my mind that the Russians are terrorizing the Ukrainian 

people’’; 

Whereas, at the direction of President Putin, the Russian 

Federation has and continues to commit war crimes by 

directing and authorizing the indiscriminate targeting of 

civilian centers within Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, and 

Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of countless innocent 

men, women, and children; 

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; and 

Whereas, when responding to questions regarding designating 

the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism, 

the spokesperson for the Department of State stated that 

‘‘we are going to look at all potential options—options 

that are available to us under the law, options that would 

be effective in holding Russia to account—and if a tool 

is available and effective, we won’t hesitate to use it’’: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

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

3 Russian Federation, at the direction of President 

4 Vladimir Putin, as acts of terrorism; and 

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

6 the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of ter7 rorism. 

Æ 


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