Posted in: 07/09/2022 – 04:46Last updated: 07/09/2022 – 04:44
Washington (AFP) – On Tuesday, the US administration considered it pointless in the current situation to classify Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, rejecting calls in this regard by Kyiv and US parliamentarians.
US President Joe Biden was satisfied with answering “No” to a question in this regard posed to him by journalists on Monday.
Biden’s brief answer ended months of American procrastination on the subject, at least in public.
On Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre, explaining to reporters President Biden’s answer, said designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism was “not the most effective or powerful way to hold it accountable” for its invasion of Ukraine.
She explained that such a step could also harm efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
She added that Russia’s inclusion on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism could also “undermine the unprecedented multilateral (coalition) that has been so effective in holding (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to account, as well as our ability to support Ukraine” in the negotiations.
If the United States, the world’s largest economy, included a country on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, such a move would have far-reaching consequences, including exposing US banks and companies to legal action.
At the end of June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Russia to be classified as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, in the wake of a Russian raid targeting a shopping center that killed at least 18 people.
In Washington, US parliamentarians, led by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, called on the Biden administration to take this step in order to increase pressure on Moscow more than six months after the start of its invasion of Ukraine.
The US list of state sponsors of terrorism currently includes only four countries: Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba.
© 2022 AFP