H.R. 8718 — Countering Russia’s Forced Recruitment and Kidnapping in Africa Act

This section sets forth congressional findings on Russian-backed recruitment of African civilians and military personnel to fight in Ukraine. The findings detail the use of deceptive tactics such as false job or training promises, confiscation of passports and documents upon arrival, and assignment of recruits to high-risk combat roles, with specific examples involving more than 1,400 individuals from 36 African countries, cases in South Africa, Kenya, and Cameroon, and the exploitation of over 1,000 African women aged 18 to 22 in drone production at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the deceptive and coerced recruitment of African nationals into its armed forces, that such recruitment likely constitutes human rights violations, and that some African government officials have participated in or benefited from these operations.

This section directs the Secretary of State to establish, not later than 90 days after enactment, a list of foreign persons and foreign governments that participate in or facilitate the recruitment of nationals from African countries to join the Russian military or Russia-aligned organizations for the purpose of fighting in Ukraine, or to accept employment under false pretenses or as volunteer work supporting the Russian war effort against Ukraine. Individuals determined to be victims of fraud, coercion, or deception in connection with such activities are excluded from the list.

This section authorizes the President to impose sanctions on foreign persons and foreign governments identified on the list required by section 4, not later than 30 days after the list is created. The sanctions include (1) blocking all property and interests in property under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; (2) prohibiting Export-Import Bank guarantees, insurance, or credit for exports; (3) barring United States financial institutions from providing loans or credits exceeding $10,000,000 in any 12-month period; (4) directing United States executive directors at international financial institutions to oppose loans benefiting listed persons or governments; (5) prohibiting loans, guarantees, equity investments, or other support from the International Development Finance Corporation, Millennium Challenge Corporation, and United States Trade and Development Agency; (6) barring United States government procurement of goods or services; and (7) denying visas and excluding individuals from the United States, with automatic revocation of existing visas. Exceptions apply for compliance with United Nations headquarters obligations, humanitarian assistance involving agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices, authorized intelligence and law enforcement activities, and judicial review procedures for classified information. The President may waive sanctions if vital to national interests, subject to notification to the appropriate congressional committees within 15 days.

This section authorizes the President to terminate sanctions imposed under this Act with respect to a person upon determining and reporting to the appropriate congressional committees not later than 15 days before termination that one of three conditions is met: (1) credible information exists that the person did not engage in the sanctioned activity; (2) the person has credibly demonstrated a significant change in behavior, paid an appropriate consequence, and committed not to engage in such activity in the future; or (3) termination is in the vital national interests of the United States.

This section defines the term "appropriate congressional committees" for purposes of the Act as the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.