White House won’t declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism

Only Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria are currently designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the United States

The United States will not add Russia to its list of state sponsors of terrorism because “unintended consequences” from doing so could harm the interests of Ukraine and US allies across the globe, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the daily White House press briefing the day after President Joe Biden told reporters he would not place the Russian Federation on the US terrorism sponsor list alongside Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria, Ms Jean-Pierre said such a designation is not “the most effective or strongest path forward ... to hold Russia accountable”.

She added that multiple “humanitarian experts” and non-governmental organisations have warned that putting Russia on the list of state terrorism sponsors would “seriously affect” efforts to provide assistance to Ukraine and other countries in the region.

“It could drive critical humanitarian and commercial actors away from facilitating food exports to help mitigate the global food crisis and jeopardize the Black Sea port deal that has already led to over a million tons of Ukrainian food exports,” said Ms Jean-Pierre, who also warned that declaring Russia a sponsor of terrorism would undercut the “unprecedented multilateral coalition” Mr Biden has assembled in support of Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion.

The White House press secretary explained that the US has already imposed “severe consequences” on Moscow that are comparable to the sanctions placed on countries that receive the state sponsor of terror designation, which have led to Russia defaulting on its’ public debt and having to purchase weapons from North Korea.

“We're going to support using further tools that work to promote accountability for Russia's war against Ukraine. And so that's going to be our focus as we move forward,” she said.