Senators Call on Designating Russia a Terrorist State Amid Allegations of Mass Child Kidnapping, Brainwashing

A bipartisan congressional effort to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism received a renewed push during a Dec. 3 Senate hearing on allegations that Moscow is kidnapping and brainwashing tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) first introduced legislation in 2022 to designate the Russian government as a “state sponsor of terrorism” months after it invaded Ukraine, and on the same day, Russian forces shot a missile on the Karachunivske reservoir, causing it to break and flood Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home city, Kryvyi Rih. In June 2024, Graham and Blumenthal introduced the bill again, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “barbaric behavior in Ukraine” and for “disruptive behavior throughout Africa and the world at large.”...