H.R. 8696

119 HR 8696 IH: Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2026-05-07
 text/xml
 EN
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 I  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  H. R. 8696  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   May 7, 2026   Mr. Lieu  (for himself,  Mr. Wilson of South Carolina , and  Mr. Cohen ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on Foreign Affairs    A BILL
To provide for the designation of the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act  .
2.
Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
Pursuant to existing law, it is United States policy to designate countries that have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism as state sponsors of terrorism.
(2)
Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, Iran, and Syria are designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
(3)
At the direction of President Vladimir Putin, the Government of the Russian Federation has 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, utilizing brutal force targeting 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 Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014 followed by a full-scale invasion of Ukraine starting in 2022, the Government of the Russian Federation has facilitated and supported acts of violence against Ukrainian civilians.
(7)
As of September 2025, the Government of Ukraine estimates at least 648 children have been killed, more than 2,100 have been wounded, and millions are suffering trauma and disrupted education since the start of President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
(8)
The Government of Ukraine estimates that the Russian Federation has kidnapped, deported, or displaced at least 20,000 Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation, Russian-occupied territories, and other locations, and continues to practice such illegal and inhumane actions.
(9)
The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab has assessed that children from Ukraine have been taken to at least 210 facilities inside Russia and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Re-education activities involving children from Ukraine have occurred in at least 130 identified sites.
(10)
The Government of the Russian Federation provided material support to the regime of former Syrian leader Bashar Al Asad, a nation currently designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, that was used to target the Syrian people.
(11)
According to the Congressional Research Service, the Russian Federation uses networks of mercenaries, such as the Wagner Group and its successors, which are overseen by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, to support the foreign policy objectives of the Russian Federation. These mercenary networks supported by the Russian Federation have spread terror in various parts of the world.
(12)
In 2020, the Department of the Treasury identified the Wagner Group as  a designated Russian Ministry of Defense proxy force  and stated that  Wagner’s activities in other countries, including Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and Libya, have generated insecurity and incited violence against innocent civilians .
(13)
On January 26, 2023, the Department of the Treasury designated the Wagner Group as a Transnational Criminal Organization, citing that  Wagner personnel have engaged in an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass executions, rape, child abductions, and physical abuse in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali .
(14)
The Wagner Group has also been sanctioned by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
(15)
On March 1, 2022, Jason Blazakis, the director of the Department of State’s Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office in the Bureau of Counterterrorism from 2008 to 2018, 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. .
(16)
On March 17, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the world to acknowledge the Russian Federation as a terrorist state.
(17)
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 .
(18)
On November 23, 2022, the European Parliament recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
(19)
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.
3.
Designation of the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism
(a)
In general
Effective beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Russian Federation shall be deemed to have been determined to be a country the government of which has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism for purposes of—
(1)
section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 ( 50 U.S.C. 4813(c)(1)(A) );
(2)
section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2371 );
(3)
section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act ( 22 U.S.C. 2780 ); or
(4)
any other provision of law.
(b)
Rule of construction
Nothing in this Act may be construed as to provide for the imposition of sanctions against any person that engages in transactions to export agricultural products from Ukraine or to provide humanitarian assistance in Ukraine.
(c)
Sunset
This section shall terminate on the date that is the earlier of—
(1)
the date on which the Secretary of State determines that the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Ukraine have entered into negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine; or
(2)
5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
4.
Other provisions
(a)
Inapplicability of Certain Provisions of Law
Notwithstanding section 201 of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 ( Public Law 107–297 ;  28 U.S.C. 1610  note), or any other provision of law, no blocked or frozen asset of the Russian Federation, or of any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be subject to attachment, execution, or other judicial process in satisfaction of any judgment against the Russian Federation arising from its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism under section 3.
(b)
Retention of executive authority
All such assets shall remain subject to the authority of the President, the Secretary of the Treasury, and other appropriate officials of the executive branch to administer, license, vest, transfer, or otherwise dispose of in furtherance of the foreign policy interests of the United States, including support for Ukraine and implementation of the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act (the REPO for Ukrainians Act).
(c)
Rule of Construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the rights of victims of terrorism to seek compensation from other sources available under law.