Blinken Reportedly Resisting Senate's Push to Declare Russia State Sponsor of Terrorism

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US State Secretary Antony Blinken continues to show reluctance to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism despite pressure from Congress and Ukraine, The New York Times has reported.

Blinken is resisting to make a move that would force the US to impose sanctions on its allies doing business with Russia and destroy the remaining avenues for diplomacy in relations with Moscow, despite "weeks" of pressure, the newspaper said in a report out Friday.

The White House has still not clarified US President Joe Biden's stance, while the House of Representatives has been pushing for the designation since May, with speaker Nancy Pelosi having reportedly warned Blinken personally that if the State Department does not designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism Congress will.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the US to designate Russia as state sponsor of terrorism in mid-April, and the Ukrainian parliament reiterated the call in early May. A group of US senators promptly drafted a relevant resolution.

This past Thursday, the US Senate approved a non-binding resolution asking the State Department to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism over its actions in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Ukraine. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the designation would not practically change anything, given that sanctions are already in place.

Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that US designation of Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism would have consequences for the bilateral relations.

The US has so far designated Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria as states sponsoring terrorism.