Today, Helsinki Commission Ranking Member Senator Roger Wicker (MS) and Co-Chair Senator Ben Cardin (MD) re-introduced the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act in the U.S. Senate in the 118th Congress. Commissioners Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Sen. Thom Tillis (NC), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (CT) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) as well as Senators Lindsey Graham (SC), and Marco Rubio (FL) joined Sens. Wicker and Cardin as original co-sponsors. The HARM Act would require the Secretary of State to designate the Russian-based mercenary Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). The Commission applauds this vital bipartisan legislation to hold Wagner accountable for the terror it inflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere. For more information click here.
The HARM Act was first introduced in the 117th Congress by Helsinki Commission Chair Sen. Ben Cardin (MD) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (MI), along with companion legislation in the House of Representatives. On January 25, Helsinki Commission Ranking member Rep. Steve Cohen and Chairman Joe Wilson, along with Commissioners Marc Veasey, Richard Hudson, Ruben Gallego and Brian Fitzpatrick and Representatives Ted Lieu, Maria Salazar and Marcy Kaptur, re-introduced the HARM Act in the House of Representatives.
