I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9381 
To designate the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist 
organization, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 1, 2022 
Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. VEASEY, and 
Mr. HUDSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To designate the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group as a 
foreign terrorist organization, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holding Accountable 
Russian Mercenaries Act’’ or the ‘‘HARM Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The Secretary of State’s designation of an 
entity as a foreign terrorist organization results 
from a determination that— 
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(A) the entity is foreign and engages in 
terrorism or terrorist activity; and 
(B) the terrorist activity threatens the se-
curity of the United States or its nationals. 
(2) The activities of the PMC Wagner Group 
and affiliated entities of Russian national Yevgeniy 
Prigozhin pose a threat to the national interests and 
national security of the United States and allies and 
partners of the United States, including with respect 
to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which President Biden 
declared, on March 2, 2022, ‘‘pose[s] an unusual 
and extraordinary threat to the national security 
and foreign policy of the United States’’. 
(3) On June 20, 2017, the Department of the 
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control des-
ignated PMC Wagner and its military leader, 
Dmitry Utkin, pursuant to Executive Order 13660 
(titled ‘‘Blocking Property of Additional Certain 
Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine’’) 
‘‘for being responsible for or complicit in, or having 
engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies 
that threaten the peace, security, stability, sov-
ereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine’’. 
(4) On September 20, 2018, the Department of 
State added Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his affiliated 
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entities, including the PMC Wagner Group, to the 
list of persons identified as part of, or operating for 
or on behalf of, the defense or intelligence sectors of 
the Government of the Russian Federation under 
section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries 
Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9525). 
(5) The PMC Wagner Group, a self-described 
private actor that undertakes military action and 
subversive operations at the behest of the Govern-
ment of the Russian Federation, is a ‘‘terrorist 
group’’ that engages in ‘‘terrorism’’ (as defined in 
section 140(d) of the Foreign Relations Authoriza-
tion Act, Fiscal Year 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. 
2656f(d))), which is ‘‘premeditated, politically moti-
vated violence perpetrated against noncombatant 
targets by subnational 
groups 
or 
clandestine 
agents’’. 
(6) The PMC Wagner Group and its affiliated 
entities have committed, or are credibly accused of 
committing, terrorist activity (as defined in section 
212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)), through their involve-
ment in— 
(A) the massacres, rape, and torture of ci-
vilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in March 2022; 
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(B) the massacres in Moura, Mali, in 
March 2022; 
(C) the massacres of migrant workers and 
civilians in mining regions along the Sudan- 
Central African Republic border in 2022; 
(D) the murder of Russian journalists in 
the Central African Republic in June 2018 as 
well as threats against United States journalists 
investigating such incident; 
(E) the kidnapping of children in the Cen-
tral African Republic in 2022 to work in mines; 
(F) the rape and sex trafficking of women 
and children in the Central African Republic 
between 2018 and 2022; 
(G) the sabotage and lethal suppression of 
civilian protestors in Sudan in 2019; 
(H) the use of nerve agents against 
Libya’s Government of National Accord and de-
ployment of illegal landmines and booby-traps 
in civilian areas of Tripoli between 2019 and 
2020; 
(I) the torture and execution of a Syrian 
national in June 2017; and 
(J) efforts to assassinate Ukrainian Presi-
dent Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022. 
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SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the Russian-based PMC Wagner Group 
meets the criteria for designation by the Secretary 
of State as a foreign terrorist organization under 
section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)); and 
(2) the Secretary of State should designate the 
PMC Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organiza-
tion under such section 219. 
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF PMC WAGNER GROUP AS A FOR-
EIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
shall designate the PMC Wagner Group as a foreign ter-
rorist organization in accordance with section 219(a) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)). 
(b) APPLICATION.—The designation required under 
subsection (a) shall equally apply to any affiliated and suc-
cessor entities to the PMC Wagner Group undertaking 
malign activities against the United States and its allies 
and partners, including activities taking place in Ukraine, 
Africa, and the Middle East. 
(c) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-
tion of sanctions under this section if the President deter-
mines and reports to the appropriate congressional com-
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mittees that such a waiver is in the national security inter-
est of the United States. 
(d) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term ‘‘ap-
propriate congressional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Armed Services of the 
Senate; 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
Senate; 
(3) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs of the Senate; 
(4) the Committee on Financial Services of the 
House of Representatives; 
(5) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
House of Representatives; 
(6) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
House of Representatives; and 
(7) the Committee on Armed Services of the 
House of Representatives. 
Æ 
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