Designating Russia as State sponsor of terrorism not right path forward: WH

The White House said the designation of state sponsor of terrorism to Russia could have unintended consequences to Ukraine and the world

Designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism is not an effective path forward to hold it accountable as it could have unintended consequences for Ukraine and rest of the world, the White House has said.

As the President has said, and as we do think as well, it (declaring Russia a state sponsor of terrorism) is not the most effective or strongest path forward, as we have said many times before, to hold Russia accountable, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday at her daily news conference.

She said the designation of state sponsor of terrorism to Russia could have unintended consequences to Ukraine and the world.

For example, according to humanitarian experts and NGOs we have spoken to, it could seriously affect the ability to deliver assistance in areas of Ukraine, she said.

Another one is it could drive critical humanitarian and commercial actors away from facilitating food exports to help mitigate the global food crisis and jeopardise the Black Sea port deal that has already led to over a million tons of Ukrainian food exports reaching the world, including those on the Horn of Africa likely facing famine, the press secretary said.

Pierre also said all efforts that have so far impacted in holding Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable would get undermined.

It would also undercut our unprecedented multilateral condition that has been so effective in holding Putin accountable and could also undermine our ability to support Ukraine at the negotiating table. So we do not think this is the most effective way to go or the strongest path forward, she told reporters in response to a question.

Instead, the United States has already put in place severe consequences in line with those that would be imposed under such designation.

Our sanctions export controls efforts to further isolate Russia from the global economy are having a significant impact. So that's the way we kind of have seen with the work that we've already done, Jean-Pierre said.

Under this, Russia defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in more than a century. As we have said, we are choking off Russia's military supply chains. For example, Russia has to rely on North Korea, as you all heard, and Iran for military equipment. And just last week, the G7 committed to implement a price cap to push down the price of Putin's oil and starve him of his main source of revenue to fund this war, she said.

The US is going to support using further tools that will work to promote accountability for Russia's war against Ukraine. And so that's going to be America's focus, she added.