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The Senate has indicated that it will move forward with legislation to designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism due to accusations that Russia has abducted Ukrainian children.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Since the war broke out in Ukraine, Russia has been accused of forcibly deporting and relocating thousands of Ukrainian children to Russian territory and Russian-occupied areas. According to the Ukrainian government, over 19,500 children have been taken from their homes, with only a fraction (just over 1,600) successfully returned. Many of these children have been placed in re-education centers, orphanages, summer camps, and even military bases, where reports indicate they are subjected to pro-Russian indoctrination. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in 2023 for President Putin and the country’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, charging them with war crimes related to the unlawful deportation of minors (a serious violation of international law, including the Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute). Russia, which does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction, has strongly denied these allegations, claiming the children were moved for their safety from active combat zones and that their relocation was a humanitarian effort.

What’s going on now: In a notable development, two of the top US senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal) have reintroduced a bipartisan bill that would require the State Department to formally designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST). The committee is expected to vote on the bill in the coming days, a move that would mark one of the most symbolic condemnations of Russia by the US government since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. The legislation is built around Russia’s alleged role in abducting and relocating thousands of Ukrainian children, framing the act as not only a war crime but a form of state-sponsored terrorism.

Graham, speaking at a press conference, said, “Russia has earned the right to be on this list,” while Blumenthal emphasized that the US must not normalize the Kremlin’s behavior under Putin.

If passed, the bill would force the Secretary of State to officially add Russia to the SST list unless he can certify that all abducted Ukrainian children have been returned. This requirement would leave little room for diplomatic maneuvering, forcing the administration to either take a decisive stance or provide concrete proof that Russia has reversed course. Currently, only four countries hold the State Sponsor of Terrorism designation: North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Cuba. Being added to this list would trigger a broad range of punitive measures, including restrictions on US foreign assistance, a ban on defense exports and sales, tighter export controls on dual-use items, and additional financial and economic sanctions.

This legislative push comes on the heels of another high-profile Russia-related sanctions bill being shelved, despite garnering overwhelming bipartisan support with more than 80 Senate co-sponsors. That separate legislation would have imposed new economic penalties on Russia and its trading partners, including tariffs of up to 500% on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian energy (specifically targeting nations like China and India). It also included secondary sanctions on foreign companies aiding Russia’s energy sector.

Despite this, Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced that the bill was being put on hold pending the outcome of a planned summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin in Budapest (which now appears to be falling apart as we write this).

More to come.