OREANDA-NEWS  The US Congress is developing a bill that recognizes Russia as an aggressor state, The Hill found out. According to the publication, which refers to its sources in Congress, the text of the bill is now being discussed with the administration of President Biden.

If the bill is adopted, the US president will be able to declare Russia and any foreign state an aggressor state if he considers it involved in "acts of aggression against Ukraine." The document will also allow the US president to impose sanctions against any person who is "responsible for or involved in aggression," the newspaper points out. But critics of the text say that these additions are unnecessary, since the Joe Biden administration has already imposed sanctions on high-ranking Russian officials.

The document is also criticized for the fact that the term "aggressor state" is "rhetorically weaker" than the term "state sponsor of terrorism," The Hill points out.

Ukrainian officials, whose names the publication does not name, told the newspaper that the status of the aggressor state does not correspond to their request for recognition of Russia as a sponsor of terrorism. Despite this, according to them, Kiev can support this measure, especially if this is followed by the development of "additional tools for punishing aggressor states."

On November 23, the European Parliament adopted a resolution recognizing Russia as a sponsor of terrorism in connection with the military actions in Ukraine. The document is not legally binding and is of a recommendatory nature, since there is no concept of a "state sponsor of terrorism" in EU legislation yet. Individual EU countries — in particular Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Estonia — have also adopted their own documents with similar formulations.