H.R. 8696

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8696 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8696

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

_______________________________________________________________________

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.

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) 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.
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