A day after American adversaries Russia and North Korea announced a mutual defense pact, two influential U.S. senators are introducing legislation that would designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.

If approved, Russia would join a list that also includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria.

“Russia deserves to be in this small, selective club of atrocity committing killers,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is introducing the measure with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

This is not the bipartisan duo’s first attempt to label Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. They also introduced measures in September 2022 and April 2023 that failed to gain traction in the Senate.

They have renewed their efforts following Wednesday’s agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“It is time for us to push back,” Graham said. “Now is the moment above all other moments. So I would urge the administration, given what Putin has done yesterday, let's go all in in designating his regime for what it is — a state sponsor of terrorism.”

Blumenthal and Graham said they saw “first-hand the kind of terrorism that Russia has committed and sponsored around the world” during a recent visit to Bucha, Ukraine.

“The site of the mass graves,” Blumenthal said. “Women and children’s hands tied behind their back, shot in the head. 

“We have talked to prosecutors about Russia kidnapping children and indoctrinating them in Russia, taking them away from their loved ones and parents,” the Connecticut Democrat continued. 

Graham also called out Russia’s affiliation with the paramilitary Wagner Group and other such entities as well as Moscow’s efforts to silence political dissidents. He added that he believes “as a general rule” anyone who signs a defense agreement with Pyongyang — which has developed nuclear weapons and regularly performs menacing ballistic missiles tests — should be branded a state sponsor of terrorism.

“This is a moment in history that will be viewed decades to follow as consequential,” Graham said. 

Graham noted Russia issued an arrest warrant for him last year over comments he made condemning the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.

The senators said the designation would allow the U.S. to pose stronger sanctions, including on those who do business with Russia, and would open up the U.S. judicial system for victims of “Putin’s barbaric behavior” to seek justice.

But it would also by symbolic, they said.

“In my view, this message to the world is as important in a moral sense as any practical consequence,” Blumenthal said.

Conceding that the U.S. has “lost deterrence” with Russia, Graham said the designation would provide a “morale boost” to Ukraine.

The agreement between Russia and North Korea requires both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event of war, according to North Korean state media. While the agreement, inked Wednesday at a summit in Pyongyang, could represent the countries’ strongest deal signed after the Cold War, there are differing opinions on how strong the security commitment is.

Kim claimed that the deal elevated bilateral relations to the level of an alliance, while Putin was more understated and did not call it an alliance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.