Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made a direct appeal to President Biden for the United States to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, one of the most powerful and far-reaching sanctions in the US arsenal, Report informs via the Washington Post.
Zelensky’s request, which has not previously been reported, came during a recent phone call with Biden that centered on the West’s multifaceted response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the conversation.
Biden did not commit to specific actions during the call, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive dialogue between the two leaders. The US president has told his Ukrainian counterpart he is willing to explore a range of proposals to exert greater pressure on Moscow, they added.
Even during the Cold War, Washington refrained from designating the Soviet Union in this manner despite Moscow’s support for groups considered terrorist actors throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Such a measure could have a range of impacts, including the imposition of economic penalties on dozens of other nations that continue to do business with Russia, the freezing of Moscow’s assets in the United States, including real estate, and the prohibition of a variety of exports that have both commercial and military uses.