Bi-partisan senators in the US Congress Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal have introduced a bill to recognize Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism" after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a strategic partnership agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Un, reported The Voice of America, referring to a joint news conference of the senators.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said that, in addition to the crimes Russia has committed in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world, Putin's visit to North Korea is a new challenge and that now is "the right time" to pass this bill.
"The fact that he (Putin) had the audacity to enter into a defense agreement with North Korea ... one of the most repressive regimes on the planet means that we have lost deterrence ... I urge the administration, with that in mind, "What Putin did yesterday is to take action and recognize his regime for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism," Graham said.
For his part, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has said that the agreement signed between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un is "deeply frightening" and "hostile to the United States, world peace, liberty and justice".
Regarding the conditions that qualify Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism," the senators note in particular the "illegal invasion of sovereign Ukraine in 2022, which led to the brutal killing of thousands of innocent civilians".
In addition, senators have proposed adding to the list of evidence of Russian terrorist activity the poisoning of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in 2004, the poisoning of former Russian FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, the downing of Flight 350 in Malaysia Airlines in Donetsk Oblast in 2014, support for aerial bombing of Aleppo in Syria in 2016, the poisoning of former Russian military and British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK in 2018 and the death of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny in 2024
The senators note that the corresponding bill may come to a vote "sooner rather than later".
US Senate: Russia is a sponsor of terrorism
Sen. Lindsey Graham said that in addition to the crimes that Russia has committed in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world, Putin's visit to North Korea is a new challenge and it is the right time to pass this bill.
Jun 21, 2024 17:46 187
