IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1113 
Calling on the Secretary of State to designate the Russian Federation as 
a state sponsor of terrorism. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 12, 2022 
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. LIEU) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
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 Con-
trol 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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•HRES 1113 IH 
to promote acts of international terrorism against polit-
ical opponents and nation states; 
Whereas, under the orders of President Putin, the Govern-
ment 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 Federa-
tion 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 Federa-
tion has supported separatists engaging in acts of vio-
lence 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 civil-
ian 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 Wag-
ner Group as ‘‘a designated Russian Ministry of Defense 
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proxy force’’ and states that ‘‘Wagner’s activities in other 
countries, including Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and Libya, 
have generated insecurity and incited violence against in-
nocent 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 as-
sassinate 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 civil-
ians and civilian infrastructure is ‘‘state terrorism’’; 
Whereas, on March 17, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky 
called for the world to acknowledge the Russian Federa-
tion as a terrorist state; 
Whereas the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has appealed to 
Congress to encourage the Department of State to recog-
nize the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of ter-
rorism noting that ‘‘the Russian Federation has for years 
supported and financed terrorist regimes and terrorist or-
ganizations, 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 Malay-
sian 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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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 com-
mitted 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 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) views the actions of the Government of the 
Russian Federation, at the direction of President 
Vladimir Putin, as acts of terrorism; and 
(2) calls on the Secretary of State to designate 
the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of ter-
rorism. 
Æ 
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