II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3739 

To designate certain unelected entities claiming to be governments as foreign 

terrorist organizations, to impose certain measures with respect to countries that support such entities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 2, 2022 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To designate certain unelected entities claiming to be governments as foreign terrorist organizations, to impose certain measures with respect to countries that support 

such entities, 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 TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Usurpation 

5 of Power and Privileges by Extralegal Territories’ Sedition 

6 Act of 2022’’ or the ‘‘PUPPETS Act of 2022’’. 


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•S 3739 IS

1 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION AS FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZA2 TIONS OF UNELECTED ENTITIES CLAIMING 

3 TO BE GOVERNMENTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each entity described in sub5 section (b) is designated as— 

6 (1) a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to 

7 section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

8 (8 U.S.C. 1189); and 

9 (2) a specially designated global terrorist orga10 nization under Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 

11 1701 note; relating to blocking property and prohib12 iting transactions with persons who commit, threat13 en to commit, or support terrorism), as amended be14 fore, on, or after the date of the enactment of this 

15 Act. 

16 (b) ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—An entity described in 

17 this subsection is an entity holding itself out to be the 

18 Government of— 

19 (1) the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk 

20 People’s Republic, or any other region of Ukraine, 

21 that was not elected through the presidential or par22 liamentary elections in 2019 or local elections in 

23 2020; 

24 (2) the Pridnestrovian Moldovian Republic; 

25 (3) the Republic of South Ossetia; or 

26 (4) the Republic of Abkhazia. 


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•S 3739 IS

1 SEC. 3. NON-RECOGNITION OF SOVEREIGNTY BY 

2 UNELECTED ENTITIES CLAIMING TO BE GOV3 ERNMENTS. 

4 (a) UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.—The Sec5 retary of Defense may not take any action, including any 

6 movement of aircraft or vessels that implies recognition 

7 of the sovereignty of any entity described in section 2(b) 

8 over territory or airspace claimed by the Government of 

9 Ukraine, Moldova, or Georgia. 

10 (b) UNITED STATES FLAGGED VESSELS.—No vessel 

11 that is issued a certificate of documentation under chapter 

12 121 of title 46, United States Code, may take any action 

13 that implies recognition of the sovereignty of any entity 

14 described in section 2(b) over territory or airspace claimed 

15 by the Government of Ukraine, Moldova, or Georgia. 

16 (c) UNITED STATES AIRCRAFT.—No aircraft oper17 ated by an air carrier that holds an air carrier certificate 

18 issued under chapter 411 of title 49, United States Code, 

19 may take any action that implies recognition of the sov20 ereignty of any entity described in section 2(b) over terri21 tory or airspace claimed by the Government of Ukraine, 

22 Moldova, or Georgia. 


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•S 3739 IS

1 SEC. 4. MEASURES WITH RESPECT TO COUNTRIES THAT 

2 SUPPORT UNELECTED ENTITIES CLAIMING 

3 TO BE GOVERNMENTS. 

4 (a) IDENTIFICATION OF COUNTRIES THAT ASSIST

5 UNELECTED ENTITIES CLAIMING TO BE GOVERN6 MENTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 

9 days thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit 

10 to Congress a report identifying each country the 

11 government of which the Secretary determines, after 

12 February 23, 2022— 

13 (A) recognizes the sovereignty of an entity 

14 described in section 2(b) over territory or air15 space claimed by the Government of Ukraine, 

16 Moldova, or Georgia; or 

17 (B) provides material assistance or support 

18 to such an entity. 

19 (2) FORM.—The report required by paragraph 

20 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

21 include a classified annex if the Secretary deter22 mines it is necessary for the national security inter23 ests of the United States to do so. 

24 (3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 

25 shall publish the unclassified part of the report reVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Mar 07, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3739.IS S3739

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•S 3739 IS

1 quired by paragraph (1) on a publicly available 

2 website of the Department of State. 

3 (b) PROHIBITION ON FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by para5 graph (2) or (3), no amounts may be obligated or 

6 expended to provide foreign assistance to the govern7 ment of any country identified in a report required 

8 by subsection (a). 

9 (2) EXCEPTION.—This subsection shall not 

10 apply with respect to Ukraine, Taiwan, humani11 tarian assistance, disaster assistance, emergency 

12 food assistance, or the Peace Corps. 

13 (3) WAIVER.—The President may waive the ap14 plication of paragraph (1) with respect to the gov15 ernment of a country if the President determines 

16 that the waiver is in the national interests of the 

17 United States. 

18 (c) DESIGNATION AS STATE SPONSORS OF TER19 RORISM.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The government of each 

21 country identified in a report required by subsection 

22 (a) shall be designated as a state sponsor of ter23 rorism. 

24 (2) STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM DE25 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘state sponsor 


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•S 3739 IS

1 of terrorism’’ means a country the government of 

2 which the Secretary of State has determined has re3 peatedly provided support for acts of international 

4 terrorism, for purposes of— 

5 (A) section 1754(c)(1)(A)(i) of the Export 

6 Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 

7 4813(c)(1)(A)(i)); 

8 (B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 

9 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 

10 (C) section 40(d) of the Arms Export Con11 trol Act (22 U.S.C. 2780(d)); or 

12 (D) any other provision of law. 

13 SEC. 5. TERMINATION. 

14 The requirements of this Act terminate on December 

15 31, 2023. 

Æ 


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