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| Photo Credit: AP. |
President Joe Biden rejected calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism as the country battles the invading Russian military in the east of the country.
On Tuesday
the White House said the designation could have “unintended consequences for
Ukraine and the world” and undermine the U.S. ability to support Ukraine at the
negotiating table, The Washington Times reports.
“We do not
think this is the most effective way to go or the strongest path forward,”
White House press secretary Karine Jeanne-Pierre told reporters, according to
The Washington Times.
Which countries are on U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism?
Currently
Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Syria are the only four countries that carry the designation.
Republicans
and Democrats in Congress have called on the Biden administration to designate
Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism along with Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian
parliamentarians.
Why should Russia be designated state sponsors of terrorism?
In May Sens.
Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Lindsey Graham, a South
Carolina Republican introduced a resolution to force the Biden administration
to make the designation by attaching the measure to the nearly $40 billion
military and humanitarian aid package passed by Congress but it failed, The
Washington Times reported.
Some of the reasons
given by the lawmakers included the Kremlin’s targeting of civilians during the
Second Chechen War, the Syrian Civil War and Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine
which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands more.
The
resolution cited Russia’s use of mercenaries from the Wagner Group, which the
Treasury Department has labeled as “a designated Russian Ministry of Defense
proxy force,” to carry out acts of violence against civilians in Ukraine, Syria,
Sudan and Libya, according to The Washington Times.
Why has the White House refused to designate Russia state sponsors of terrorism?
The White
House is adamant, arguing the move could backfire and could negatively affect
its ability “to deliver assistance in areas of Ukraine”.