The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced a bill that could ultimately lead to Russia being designated by the United States government as a state sponsor of terrorism. The bipartisan legislation seeks to punish Russia for kidnapping, deporting and displacing an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children.
“It is a war crime. Vladimir Putin is purposefully doing it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Straight Arrow News. “The outrage ought to move us to pass this bill, literally within the coming weeks.”
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The kidnapped children range in age from just a few months old to 17. They are sent to Russia or its occupied territories with one goal – Russification. The Russian leaders hope to strip these children of their Ukrainian identity, make them believe that they are Russian and maybe even fight in the Russian military.
What would it mean?
If Russia is ultimately designated as a state sponsor of terror by the State Department, it would join the ranks of North Korea, Iran and Syria. Countries on the list are punished with sanctions, and there are penalties for anyone who does business with or attempts to support those nations.
Blumenthal introduced the legislation with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. He is hopeful that it would be approved in tandem with a separate bill that would impose even further sanctions on Russia and its trading partners, cutting off revenue that President Vladimir Putin uses to fund the war.
“Putin’s brutal war has now stretched into its fourth year, and his regime continues to murder innocent civilians, attack Ukraine’s hospitals, schools and energy facilities and abduct children,” Sen. Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a statement.
Shaheen said Congress is ready to move forward if Trump “continues to stall.”
The canceled summit
Members were also happy that President Trump cancelled his summit with Putin. There were plans for the leaders to meet in Budapest, but Trump said he did not want a “wasted meeting.” Trump is trying to negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and recently met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. However, he did not believe he and Putin would be able to make meaningful progress at a summit.
“I’m glad President Trump cancelled his proposed summit with Putin. It never should have been scheduled in the first place without a ceasefire in place. But words aren’t enough. Now is the time to act,” Shaheen stated.
“I hope that the time has come now to move forward on the Russia sanctions bill to use an economic sledgehammer and stop India, China, Brazil from fueling Putin’s war machine,” Blumenthal told SAN.
China and India have been the largest buyers of Russian crude oil throughout the war. Brazil also purchases petroleum products, in addition to fertilizers, which it uses to grow the soybeans it exports to Russia.
The Foreign Relations Committee also approved the REPO Implementation Act, which would allow the United States to transfer seized Russian assets into an interest-bearing account that would be given to Ukraine for its defense and reconstruction. Lawmakers are selling it as a way to help Ukraine without costing American taxpayers.
