Senate committee adopts resolution recognizing Russia as state sponsor of terrorism
The US Senate Committee on INF in relation to the environment a resolution to include Russia in the list of countries supporting terrorism.
Resolution 623 was proposed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on May 9, 2022, and supported by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.
As Republican Senator Chris Koons explained in an interview with the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America, the final decision on the recognition of the Russian team sponsoring terrorist activities in connection with the illegal intrusion into Ukraine must be made by the Joe Biden administration.
“Resolution of the Public Administration Committee [сделать это]but in fact, Russia has not yet been identified as a state sponsor of terrorism,” said Senator Koons.
“There is no doubt that Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, is a huge sponsor of terrorism. What he did, giving the order to go through Ukraine, there was an action. He is a war criminal and is responsible for every crime that has been committed in his name,” James Rish, Republican Senator from Idaho, told VOA.
According to Risch, in the general vote in the Senate, the resolution “will receive a significant number of votes.”
“I believe that the Secretary of State will be very attentive to the study [этого вопроса]Rish added.
The State Department lists states as sponsors of terrorism that, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, often detect incidents around the world. Sanctions that are imposed on such laws include restrictions on receipt of US aid, bans on the export and sale of defense products, measures to control the export of dual-use goods, and various financial and other restrictions.
At the moment, the list includes four states: Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria.
Arguments in favor of recognizing the Russian collection as a sponsor of terrorism
As arguments for recognizing Russia as a supporter of terrorism, the senators urge to take into account the following possible facts:
– an instruction by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the initiative of the Russian Federation to encourage and encourage acts of international terrorism against attacks on states;
– An order on behalf of President Putin of the Government of the Russian Federation at the beginning of the court session, involving brute force against the authority of persons during the Second Chechen War;
– such measures of the Russian Federation against centers as Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, the discovery or discovery of countless innocent men, women and children;
– since 2014, the activity of the Russian Federation has been supporting separatists, active actions against Ukrainian civilians in the Donbass;
– from the scene in the Russian Federation during the civil war in Syria in 2015, the Russian Federation struck at innocent citizens, deaths, civilian victims, medical institutions and schools;
– The Government of the Russian Federation, which is currently the sponsor of terrorism, which took part in the elections against the Cypriot people;
– according to the Congressional Research Service, the Russian Federation is a witness to events around the world, through private networks of mercenaries, such as the Wagner group, in the reviews “to project power in a cheap and negative way”;
– The Wagner Group cooperates with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to support the goals of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation;
– The US Department of the Treasury defines the Wagner Group as “a puppet force of the Russian Department of Defense” and believes that “the activities of the Wagner Group in other countries, including Ukraine, Syria, Sudan and Libya, have created a security threat and incite violence against innocent “. persons”;
– in a random year 2022, it was reported that more than 400 Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group were sent to Kyiv on the orders of the Kremlin to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and the congresses of Ukraine;
– On March 14, 2022, the current chairman of the Organization for Security and International Cooperation in Europe, Zbigniew Rau, stated that the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine against innocent well-known individuals and public organizations are “state terrorism”;
– March 17, 2022
– The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine issued a congressional appeal to the State Department of the Russian Federation in connection with the emergency sponsor of terrorism, noting that “the Russian Federation in terms of the frequency of regime support and funding Regular regimes and Periodic organizations, including being a recurring supplier of the Assad terrorist regime in the report, and supporting terrorists in the Middle East and America, organizing acts of international terrorism, including the poisoning of the Skripals in anticipation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Germany, the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner from the scene, and other “Recidivism Acts”;
– On April 27, 2022, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told Congress that “I have no doubt that the Russians are terrorizing the Ukrainian people”;
– the instruction of President Putin of the Russian Federation on the commission of crimes, directed and authorized indiscriminate shelling of centers in Chechnya, Georgia, problems and Ukraine, regarding the cases of countless cases among innocent men, women and children;
– Russian Armed Forces seized mass executions throughout Ukraine;
– Responding to questions about the designation of a State Sponsor of Terrorism, a State Department spokesman said that “we are going to look at all possible options – options available to us legally, options that will be effective in bringing Russia into inclusion – and if the tool is available and effective, we use it without hesitation.”
Introducing the document in May, Senator Graham noted that “Putin is a terrorist and Putin’s Russia is one of the most destructive forces on the planet. Putin’s Russia has the possibility of such a definition …
A similar bipartisan resolution to criminalize the Russian Federation as a mass sponsor of terrorism was introduced on May 12 to the Foreign Policy Committee by Representative Republican Congressman Joe Wilson and Democratic Congressman Ted Lew.