US works on legislation to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism 

Blinken made the statement in an interview with CNN, the US State Department reports.

When asked why the US did not recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, even after massive attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, the US Secretary of State noted that legislative changes are necessary to avoid unintended consequences of such a step.

“So we’re constantly looking at different measures that we can take to, as necessary, increase the pressure. We’re working with Congress right now on legislation that would help us get around some of the challenges of using the State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, which, as you said, has some unintended consequences,” said Blinken.

He emphasized that Russia is trying to use winter as a weapon against Ukraine.

“...what he’s [Putin] doing is trying to weaponize winter – turn out the lights, turn off the heat, put the Ukrainian people into darkness and cold just as they head into the winter months.  This is indeed barbaric. We are pushing back very strongly in our support for Ukraine, making sure that they’re getting the missile defenses they need, working on getting them the different pieces for their energy infrastructure that they need as Putin tries to destroy it,” Blinken claimed.