“We are working on an alternative”: The State Department disowned Russia as a “sponsor of terrorism”
The United States will ensure that Russia suffers the maximum possible losses for the “war against Ukraine.”
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this at a press briefing in Washington, stated by US State Department official Ned Price, according to whom the US Treasury announced “one of the most important updates to our sanctions policy in recent years.”
“In September, Secretary Blinken announced the United States' intention to ensure that food, medicine and humanitarian assistance are excluded from UN and US sanctions programs. The first step toward achieving this goal was the adoption on December 9 of UN Security Council Resolution 2664, which exempts humanitarian assistance from the UN Security Council asset freeze,” Price said.
In turn, one of the journalists asked whether the United States would now become one step closer to recognizing Russia as a sponsor of terrorism.
“Because one of the reasons—in fact, the only reason you were so reluctant to do this—is that you didn’t want to block the path in terms of humanitarian aid coverage,” the journalist said.
However, the official urged not to connect these two issues.
“I think, of course, this step does not remove any action from the discussion today. We talked about what we think when it comes to designating a state sponsor of terrorism in relation to Russia and the challenges that arise there, the challenges that you pose when it comes to humanitarian organizations.
This is certainly one of them, and we have heard from humanitarian organizations that such a designation would prevent them from providing humanitarian assistance, including inside Ukraine. Obviously we are committed to this. But we also - as required - we are very sensitive to the law and what it provides, the criteria that it sets for designating a country as a state sponsor of terrorism. Our task is to connect what is written in the books, what is in the law, with the facts on the ground.
But as we've said, as you've already heard, we're working with Congress on a potential alternative that would allow us to continue to increase spending by the Kremlin and those responsible for Russia's war against Ukraine, without some of the unintended consequences that the designation might bring state sponsor of terrorism,” Price concluded.
It is worth noting that none of the questions asked by journalists related directly to Ukraine.
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