Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act
Bill: S.4848 | Sponsor: Sen. Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act
This bill designates Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. (A country with this designation is subject to certain restrictions, including a ban on receiving U.S. defense exports and limits on receiving U.S. foreign assistance.)

To provide for the designation of the Russian Federation as a state 
                         sponsor of terrorism.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Russia is a State Sponsor of 
Terrorism Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) United States law authorizes the designation of 
        countries that have repeatedly provided support for acts of 
        international terrorism as state sponsors of terrorism.
            (2) Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, 
        and Syria have been designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
            (3) At the direction of President Vladimir Putin, the 
        Government of the Russian Federation has promoted, and 
        continues to promote, acts of international terrorism against 
        political opponents and nation states.
            (4) Under the orders of President Putin, the Government of 
        the Russian Federation engaged in a campaign of terror that 
        utilized brutal force to target its civilians during the Second 
        Chechen War.
            (5) 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.
            (6) Since 2014, the Government of the Russian Federation--
                    (A) has supported separatists engaging in acts of 
                violence against Ukrainian civilians in the Donbas 
                region; and
                    (B) has detained United States citizens as 
                hostages.
            (7) The Government of the Russian Federation provides 
        material support to Syria, a nation currently designated as a 
        state sponsor of terrorism.
            (8) 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''.
            (9) The Wagner Group collaborates with the Ministry of 
        Defense of the Russian Federation to support the foreign policy 
        objectives of the Russian Federation.
            (10) The Department of the Treasury--
                    (A) has identified the Wagner Group as ``a 
                designated Russian Ministry of Defense proxy force''; 
                and
                    (B) has stated that ``Wagner's activities in other 
                countries, including Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and Libya, 
                have generated insecurity and incited violence against 
                innocent civilians''.
            (11) In February 2022, 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.
            (12) On March 1, 2022, Jason Blazakis, former Director of 
        the Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office, Bureau of 
        Counterterrorism, Department of State, wrote in reference to 
        white supremacist groups that ``Russia provides sanctuary to a 
        U.S.-designated terrorist group, the Russian Imperial Movement, 
        which operates with impunity in Russian territory.''.
            (13) On March 17, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky called 
        for the world to acknowledge the Russian Federation as a 
        terrorist state.
            (14) 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''.
            (15) On May 24, 2022, Ukrainian prosecutors accused 2 
        Wagner Group mercenaries of committing war crimes against 
        civilians near Kyiv.
            (16) On July 18, 2022, the United Kingdom's Ministry of 
        Defence confirmed that the Wagner Group plays a central role in 
        recent fighting in Ukraine, including Russia's capture of 
        Popasna and Lysyschansk.
            (17) The United States has a range of tools available to 
        hold the Russian Federation accountable, reduce its war 
        machine, and isolate it economically and diplomatically, 
        including by designating it as a state sponsor of terrorism and 
        imposing corresponding sanctions.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AS A STATE SPONSOR OF 
              TERRORISM.

    (a) In General.--Beginning on the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Russian Federation shall be deemed to have repeatedly provided 
support for acts of international terrorism and shall be designated as 
a state sponsor of terrorism pursuant to--
            (1) section 1754(c)(1)(A)(i) of the Export Control Reform 
        Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4813(c)(1)(A)(i));
            (2) section 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
        (22 U.S.C. 2371(a));
            (3) section 40(d) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 
        2780(d)); and
            (4) any other relevant provision of law.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--Section 1605A(h)(6) of 
title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``Congress or'' before ``the Secretary of 
        State''; and
            (2) by striking ``section 6(j) of the Export Administration 
        Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)),''.

SEC. 4. WAIVER.

    The President may remove the designation required under section 
3(a) on the date that is 30 days after the date on which the President 
certifies to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, the 
majority leader and minority leader of the Senate, and the Speaker, 
majority leader, and minority leader of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the Russian Federation is no longer supporting acts of 
        international terrorism; and
            (2) removing such designation is in the national security 
        interests of the United States.
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