The United States will not designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, instead believing that strengthening sanctions and imposing export restrictions is a more effective way to slow down Moscow’s war machine.

That’s according to US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, who told a press briefing on June 24 that such a designation would entail various negative consequences, including humanitarian ones.

Instead, there are a number of other more effective ways to “hold Russia accountable for its actions,” Miller explained. “We continue to pursue those in terms of sanctioning Russian officials, sanctioning Russian companies, imposing export controls that weaken Russia’s military machine, and we will continue to take those steps.”

This position contrasts sharply with the efforts of some US senators who have been advocating for Russia to be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. In particular, on June 20, Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal introduced a bill to the Senate as a means to “dramatically increase the tools available to the US to punish Putin for his barbaric behaviour in Ukraine and his disruptive behaviour throughout Africa and the world at large.”

Despite these efforts, and efforts from some other politicians, the White House has resisted these calls, maintaining that other measures are more effective. President Joe Biden previously decided against designating Russia as a state sponsor of terror in September 2022, following a unanimous resolution passed by the US Senate in July 2022, which called for such a designation.