Until now, it was believed that Moscow's blacklisting of terrorist sponsors could only create additional obstacles to peace in Ukraine.
Russia intensifies its offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine . Meanwhile, there is growing evidence of Russian war crimes. Against this background, Kyiv is asking Washington to use one of the most important tools in the arsenal of sanctions – to add Moscow to the list of countries sponsoring terrorism maintained by the State Department.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyi directly asked President Joe Biden about this during a recent telephone conversation. By the way, Polish President Andrzej Duda also accused Russia of terrorism this week during a visit to Kyiv. But Biden, while calling Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” has not yet responded to Ukraine's appeals, the Washington Post reports.
Kyiv.
But what will it mean if Washington complies with Zelensky's request and recognizes Russia as a sponsor of terrorism?
The State Department gives countries this status if it turns out that they regularly provide support to international terrorists. This is followed by various penalties, including a ban on receiving American aid and buying dual-use commercial and military products. Such countries find it difficult to cooperate with international financial institutions such as the World Bank.
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The Kremlin has close ties with those already on the State Department's “blacklist.” In particular, with the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Moscow's attempts to kill dissidents and ex-spies in other countries, as well as sponsoring “separatist” groups in Ukraine, all fall under Washington's criteria. Inclusion on the list of sponsors of terrorism will have serious consequences and will exacerbate Russia's economic problems. Dozens of countries around the world that still trade with Moscow could face economic penalties. And Russian assets in the United States, including real estate will be frozen. The status of a sponsor of terrorism will also emphasize that Russia is a pariah in international politics or at least for the West. An unnamed State Department official told Moscow that blacklisting Moscow would be a “nuclear option that would hit Putin's ego very hard.”
Why the Biden administration has not yet recognized Russia as a sponsoring country terrorism?
This status has not been used very often in the last 50 years. Currently, only four countries are on the list: Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria. None of them has as much geopolitical influence or military power as Russia. Even during the Cold War, Washington refused to recognize the Soviet Union as a sponsor of terrorism, despite the fact that Moscow did support terrorist groups in the 1970s and 1980s. For example, in Germany, Soviet instructors trained the Baader-Meinhof gang, known as the Red Army Faction.
Some observers believe that the status of a sponsor of terrorism will only strengthen Moscow's desire to continue the war against Ukraine and undermine US diplomacy.
explained Daniel Bayman, an expert at the Brookings Institution, back in 2018.
He added that Moscow's influence in some parts of the world is too great for the United States to ignore.
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