The document "The Case for Designating the russian federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism" is one of the most important documents created by the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions. This is a full-fledged study of the essence of the status of "state sponsor of terrorism", its legislative regulation, consequences, risks, and proposals to reduce these risks.
The document is a logical continuation of the proposal made by Ukraine in April to grant russia the status of SST, and the transfer of the discussion to a more fundamental level, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak states in his commentary.
"The document, compiled by the authoritative experts of our group, states: "The essence of terrorism can be briefly described as "deliberate, politically motivated violence committed against civilians". In reality, russia's crimes in Ukraine are actually worse than "sponsoring terrorism" - there are dozens of atrocities and thousands of murders, all committed for intimidation. That is, purely from the point of view of eligibility criteria, russia has fulfilled and exceeded those - it is some kind of absolute terrorism," he said.
Yermak stressed that it is time to act. Ukraine's partners unanimously condemned all russian attacks on civilian targets. However, they could also give a meaningful legal definition to these atrocities: russia is engaged in full-scale terrorist activity.
"And this truth should not be opposed by any objections such as "sanctions are sufficient" - not sufficient until the troops leave!"; or "it will complicate humanitarian cooperation!" - exceptions can be provided for this; or "SST recognition is a complicated process". All undesirable consequences can be eliminated, because in fact the status of "state sponsor of terrorism", as explained in detail in the document, is a flexible construction that can be adapted to circumstances and goals. That is why independent international experts come to a reasonable conclusion: "...taking into account the costs associated with the observation of terrorist acts and inaction in response, we believe that the benefits of designating russia as a state sponsor of terrorism outweigh the risks," the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine explained.
He added that the future of the West's security and the order based on international rules is being decided now in Ukraine. And all our sacrifices cannot be in vain. Ukrainians are not afraid of russia, so our partners should not be afraid to call things what they are.
The US Senate called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to recognize russia as a sponsor of terrorism in July. The non-binding resolution was adopted unanimously. A few days after that, the New York Times wrote that Blinken was not ready to decide to designate russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, despite the relevant resolution of the US Senate and the appeals of influential American politicians.