Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, said that the diplomatic corps in 2023 will focus on ensuring that the US Congress determines the correct status for Russia. Markarova said this in an interview with Suspilne.
The ambassador reminded that the concept of a state sponsor of terrorism is established in the USA at the legislative level, which is currently assigned to four countries - Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Syria.
According to her, Ukraine has been negotiating with its partners for a long time about the fact that Russia should be added to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, so that "it is called correctly and restrictions are turned on, which will allow to isolate the Russian Federation even more." At the same time, Kyiv understands "that it (Russia) is not a sponsor of terrorism."
"This status was once invented specifically for countries that provide assistance to terrorist organizations on their or other territory. And Russia itself is a terrorist. That is, it is a country that has a regular army, a government, an elected president, so to speak. They are all military. Criminals . They are all engaged in aggression and terrorism. Therefore, one question is what we will call Russia, so to speak, and another question is what will stand behind this name," Markarova explained.
According to the ambassador, one of the alternative options that was discussed between Ukraine and the USA involves the definition of a new category for Russia - for example, an aggressor country, a terrorist country or an aggressor country that commits terrorist acts against the civilian population - and the adoption of a corresponding law in Congress.
"This is a priority for us, because, firstly, we want to name it correctly and give an assessment legislatively and politically, and secondly and most importantly, what will be the essence of these restrictions. And we believe that there should be maximum restrictions, as under from the point of view of legislative support, sanctions, restrictions, export controls, which will not allow Russia to continue waging this war. This is still a work in progress. This is a key priority for 2023," she emphasized.
