US President Joe Biden said that Russia should not be recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Source: Biden’s comment to reporters at the White House, quoted by Reuters
Details: When asked if Russia should be recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism, Biden replied: “No.”
Reference:
Declaring Russia a state sponsor of terrorism will force the US government to limit foreign aid, cut defense exports and sales, impose export controls on dual-use goods, and more.
It also “refers to other sanctions laws that penalize individuals and countries involved in certain trade with sponsor states,” meaning the US may have to extend its sanctions much more widely than to certain Russian sectors of the economy. The current four states designated by the US as sponsors of terrorism – Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria – trade far less with the world than Russia.
The American authorities did not dare to include the USSR in this list even during the Cold War.
Recall:
On March 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the leaders of the countries of the world and asked to recognize Russia as a terrorist state after a missile attack by Russian invaders on the central square of Kharkiv.
On June 24, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations supported a resolution to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. A month later, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi called on Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism – otherwise Congress would do it.
On August 13, Moscow warned Washington that recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism would be a “point of no return” and that Russia could then lower the level of diplomatic relations with the United States or even break them.
Washington Post sources claim that Zelensky called on Biden to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.