US Senate wants to recognise Russia as sponsor of terrorism following Putin's pact with Kim Jong Un

Senators from the two leading parties in the US Congress, Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, have introduced a bill to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism following Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s strategic partnership agreement with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Source: Voice of America, with reference to a joint press conference by Graham and Blumenthal

Details: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that in addition to Russia’s crimes in Ukraine and other countries around the world, Putin’s visit to North Korea is a new challenge, and now is the right time to pass the bill designating it as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Quote from Graham: "The fact that he [Putin] would be bold enough to do a defence agreement with North Korea [...], one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet, means that we have lost to terrorists. [...] I would urge the administration, given what Putin has done yesterday, let us go all in in designating his regime for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism."

Details: In his turn, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal noted that the agreement signed between Putin and Kim Jong Un is deeply frightening and hostile to the United States, peace, freedom and justice around the world.

The senators said that the illegal invasion of sovereign Ukraine in 2022, which led to the brutal murder of thousands of innocent civilians, was among the actions that qualify Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

They suggested that the evidence of Russia’s terrorist activities includes the poisoning of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in 2004, the poisoning of former Russian FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 350 in Donetsk Oblast in 2014, Russia’s involvement in the bombing of Aleppo in Syria in 2016, the poisoning of former Russian military officer and British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK in 2018, and the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2024.

Graham and Blumenthal said that the bill could be put to a vote sooner rather than later. According to Blumenthal, there is currently bipartisan support for the bill in Congress.

He also said that the bill is being discussed with the US presidential administration. In a comment on the coordination of the bill with the White House, Graham added that he did not consider the recognition of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism to be a provocative step on the part of the US.

Background:

• In September 2022, US President Joe Biden made a decision against designating Russia as a state sponsor of terror.
• In July 2022, the US Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in light of its actions in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Ukraine.
• The US Department of State is in charge of designating countries as state sponsors of terrorism, but has so far resisted the calls to label Russia as such coming from both Ukraine and the US Congress.

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