I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 506 

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

terrorist organization, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2023 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. 

HUDSON, Mr. LIEU, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. SALAZAR, and 

Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

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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•HR 506 IH

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 (titled ‘‘Blocking Property of Additional Certain 

22 Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine’’) 

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

24 engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies 


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•HR 506 IH

1 that threaten the peace, security, stability, sov2 ereignty or territorial integrity of 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, the White House an12 nounced it will designate the Wagner Group a 

13 Transnational Criminal Organization pursuant to 

14 the International Emergency Economic Powers Act 

15 (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706). 

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

17 actor that undertakes military action and subversive 

18 operations at the behest of the Government of the 

19 Russian Federation, is a ‘‘terrorist group’’ that en20 gages in ‘‘terrorism’’ (as defined in section 140(d) of 

21 the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 

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

23 is ‘‘premeditated, politically motivated violence per24 petrated against noncombatant targets by sub25 national groups or clandestine agents’’. 


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•HR 506 IH

1 (7) The Wagner Group and its affiliated enti2 ties have committed, or are credibly accused of com3 mitting, terrorist activity (as defined in section 

4 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality 

5 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B))), through their in6 volvement in— 

7 (A) the massacres, rape, and torture of ci8 vilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in March 2022; 

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

10 March 2022; 

11 (C) the massacres of migrant workers and 

12 civilians in mining regions along the Sudan13 Central African Republic border in 2022; 

14 (D) the murder of Russian journalists in 

15 the Central African Republic in June 2018 as 

16 well as threats against United States journalists 

17 investigating such incident; 

18 (E) the kidnapping of children in the Cen19 tral African Republic in 2022 to work in mines; 

20 (F) the rape and sex trafficking of women 

21 and children in the Central African Republic 

22 between 2018 and 2022; 

23 (G) the sabotage and lethal suppression of 

24 civilian protestors in Sudan in 2019; 


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•HR 506 IH

1 (H) the use of nerve agents against 

2 Libya’s Government of National Accord and de3 ployment of illegal landmines and booby-traps 

4 in civilian areas of Tripoli between 2019 and 

5 2020; 

6 (I) the torture and execution of a Syrian 

7 national in June 2017; 

8 (J) efforts to assassinate Ukrainian Presi9 dent Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022; and 

10 (K) the receipt of weapons shipments ini11 tially reported in December 2022 from the 

12 Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, 

13 which the Secretary of State had designated a 

14 state sponsor of terrorism on November 20, 

15 2017. 

16 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

17 It is the sense of Congress that— 

18 (1) the Russian-based mercenary Wagner 

19 Group meets the criteria for designation by the Sec20 retary of State as a foreign terrorist organization 

21 under section 219(a) of the Immigration and Na22 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)); and 

23 (2) the Secretary of State should designate the 

24 Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organization 

25 under such section 219. 


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1 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF THE MERCENARY WAGNER 

2 GROUP AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANI3 ZATION. 

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

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

6 shall designate the Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist 

7 organization in accordance with section 219(a) of the Im8 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)). 

9 (b) APPLICATION.—The designation required under 

10 subsection (a) shall equally apply to any affiliated and suc11 cessor entities to the Wagner Group undertaking malign 

12 activities against the United States and its allies and part13 ners, including activities taking place in Ukraine, Africa, 

14 and the Middle East. 

15 (c) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica16 tion of sanctions under this section if the President deter17 mines and reports to the appropriate congressional com18 mittees that such a waiver is in the national security inter19 est of the United States. 

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

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there22 after, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appro23 priate congressional committees a report on the inter24 national activities of the Russian-based mercenary Wagner 

25 Group. 


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1 (e) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term ‘‘ap2 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 

3 (1) the Committee on Armed Services of the 

4 Senate; 

5 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

6 Senate; 

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

8 Urban Affairs of the Senate; 

9 (4) the Committee on Financial Services of the 

10 House of Representatives; 

11 (5) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

12 House of Representatives; 

13 (6) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

14 House of Representatives; and 

15 (7) the Committee on Armed Services of the 

16 House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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