A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation Thursday that would designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism over what they called the mass abduction of Ukrainian children during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
If enacted, the measure would add Russia to a short list of U.S.-designated state sponsors of terrorism that currently includes Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria, and senators said the change would further isolate Russia economically and politically.
Senators behind the bill — Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — framed the measure as a response to allegations by Ukraine and international watchdogs that nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been taken from their homes during the war. Some of the children are reported to have been placed for adoption in Russia, cataloged in databases, or sent to military-style training programs, according to Ukrainian officials and advocacy groups.
"This is what terrorists do. They rape, they murder, they kidnap," Graham said, urging Moscow to return the children. "If Russia doesn’t want to be a state sponsor of terrorism under U.S. law, return the children."
Blumenthal called the abductions a "crime against humanity" and described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal. "Putin believes that there is no Ukraine. What he is seeking to do by kidnapping these children is to erase Ukraine from the face of the earth," he said. Klobuchar said that a return of the children would be a precondition for serious negotiations on ending the war.
Advocacy groups have highlighted troubling details. Save Ukraine, a nongovernmental organization, pointed to an adoption database cataloguing nearly 294 Ukrainian children with searchable fields such as age and eye color. Ukrainian officials say more than 19,500 children have been abducted, and some reports allege the children have been transferred to camps or put into Russian foster and adoption systems.
The senators said listing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism would impose a suite of legal and economic penalties designed to make doing business with Moscow more difficult and to stigmatize Russian economic activity internationally. Graham acknowledged that such a designation would likely carry diplomatic consequences, including travel limitations that could prevent Russian leaders from visiting the United States.
The group had initially planned to add Belarus to the proposed designation, but paused that effort after Minsk released about 52 prisoners following an appeal by former President Donald Trump, the senators said. "Maybe there will be a breakthrough with Belarus here," Graham said, adding that Belarus had not been foreclosed from future action.
The new bill comes amid broader, bipartisan efforts in the Senate to tighten economic pressure on Russia. Graham and Blumenthal are also sponsors of separate legislation that would impose secondary tariffs on countries that continue to import Russian oil, a measure aimed at discouraging third-party trade with Moscow. That sanctions package, which Blumenthal said has about 85 co-sponsors, has been held up in recent weeks as senators debated the best path to broaden penalties. President Trump has suggested he could impose secondary tariffs by executive action and has not embraced the congressional package as necessary.
Blumenthal argued lawmakers should move swiftly. "After this [drone] incursion in Poland, the time is now to show strength," he said.
Senators said they hope the bill will come up for consideration in the Senate soon. They said the move would send a message to international partners and institutions about U.S. condemnation of the alleged abductions and would create additional legal tools to punish those responsible.
First Lady Melania Trump raised the issue of child abductions in a letter to President Putin that her husband reportedly handed to him during a meeting in Anchorage on Aug. 15, according to senators and aides who discussed the matter publicly. The senators offered no immediate estimate of when floor action might begin, and there was no immediate response from the Russian government in the materials provided by the lawmakers.
The bill’s sponsors emphasized that the measure is one element among a range of policy tools intended to pressure Moscow. They said designation as a state sponsor of terrorism is intended to underscore the gravity of the allegations and to marshal U.S. law and diplomacy in support of returning children to their families.
As the legislation moves forward, senators and advocacy groups will seek to document the alleged abductions and to press for international cooperation in locating and repatriating children. The bill’s future in the Senate will depend on committee scheduling and the broader calendar of foreign policy priorities, the lawmakers acknowledged.