How the Senate's Russia sanctions bill would squeeze Putin
✓A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday released an updated version of sanctions legislation targeting Russia over its war in Ukraine, the result of a months-long negotiation led by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that reached a breakthrough shortly before his death.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle say passing the legislation would mark a fitting tribute for Graham, who died suddenly late Saturday night. His final week of life included a trip to Ukraine and efforts to bring over the finish line compromise language in the bill, gaining key buy-in from the Trump administration and Democrats.
“I’ll start by channeling my inner Lindsey Graham, this is a big effing deal,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the original co-sponsor of the bill, said during a press conference Tuesday.
The bill targets Russian profits from its oil and gas exports, which make up the vast majority of the Kremlin’s revenue. It comes as Ukraine has developed increased long-range strikes hitting Russian energy facilities, compounding an economic crisis in the country that has soured public opinion on the war.
“It gives the United States leverage, but it also gives Ukraine critical leverage, hopefully at peace talks, because the ultimate goal here is peace. Nobody wants this war to continue,” Blumenthal said.
Senators released the bill text Tuesday with an initial grouping of 26 co-sponsors, divided evenly between both sides of the aisle, according to a Senate aide. They expect to reach at least 60 or more “rapidly,” to ensure the bill’s passage and give it a veto-proof majority. A 2025 version of the bill had more than 80 co-sponsors in the Senate but was blocked by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), at the request of the White House, amid negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Blumenthal said Thune told him he’s prepared to bring the bill to the floor when the text has enough co-sponsors to guarantee passage.
“I think we have the votes,” Blumenthal said. “The timing, I think, the quicker the better. Not only as a tribute to Senator Graham, but also because it matters to Ukraine.”
Blumenthal described the text of the bill as imposing “sledgehammer sanctions” against Russia and its enablers.
The compromise legislation provides for mandatory sanctions on Russia’s political leadership, financial institutions, its energy sector and sanctions evaders.
The text of the bill, called the Sanctioning Russia Act 2026, was finalized between senators and the White House before Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara last week.
Graham, traveling with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the NATO summit to finalize the text. The meeting aimed at coming to an agreement on language that satisfied Democrats’ concerns over granting the president too much authority over tariffs, and White House concerns for flexibility for President Trump.
Senate aides did not detail what specifically Trump wanted out of the bill, but the text has a sliding tariff rate, a ceiling of 100 percent, and an exemption for countries that are taking significant steps to reduce their Russian gas imports.
The latest version of the bill compels the president to impose a tariff on the top five major purchasers of Russian energy — that targets China, but could also include U.S. partners and Ukraine supporters in Europe and Asia.
An earlier version would have imposed a 500 percent tariff on the purchasers of Russian energy, a sweeping definition that would have put at least 63 countries in the crosshairs.
Democrats framed the narrowing of countries triggering sanctions as a win in reining in executive tariff authority.
Blumenthal said Tuesday that the exact tariff rate is determined by the U.S. Trade Representative but is expected to be set at “a level appropriate to discourage strongly, China, India, other major purchasers of Russian oil and gas.”
Blumenthal added that the tariff rate should “should bring maximum pressure to bear on Russia and its complicit partners.”
The White House provided its support of the bill in writing, a key show of commitment for a long-stalled bill that Graham and Blumenthal introduced in April 2025.
“There were high-level conversations, including with Bessent, Graham and Shaheen to be able to get to a place where not everyone’s going to get exactly what they want, but there is a path forward to pressure Russia,” a Senate Democratic aide said.
“This is the only product that currently has buy-in from everybody and likely the only product that is going to move forward and put pressure on Russia the way we all want to see that.”
The legislation compels the president to impose sanctions within 30 days of its passage – making the sanctions mandatory, compared to the 2025 version of the bill that made them contingent on Russia’s refusal to engage in negotiations with Ukraine.
The top five purchasers of Russian crude oil, according to data held by Senate aides, include China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan. The top five importers of Russian natural gas include China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium.
Countries are exempt from the tariff if their imports of natural gas are less than 15 percent of the total annual exports of natural gas from Russia for a 12-month period, and are also taking significant steps to reduce Russian gas imports — that’s expected to exclude Europe and Japan from being subject to tariffs.
“These sanctions are the result of the renewed convergence between Europe and the U.S. that we have been working on during the G7 meeting in Evian,” a European official told The Hill.
“Increasing pressure on Russia is necessary to end the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The bill also provides for tariffs to be imposed on countries helping Russia evade sanctions, including through involvement in its so-called ghost fleet of ships transiting Russian energy exports around the world. These ships carry Russian crude oil or gas but are unmarked, making them difficult to identify and block.
Senate aides said that an interagency process would need to determine officially which countries are evading Russia sanctions and subject to tariffs. But an analysis by Senate aides highlighted China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Singapore and “certain Central Asian countries,” as locations where sanctions evasion is taking place.
Countries cannot be sanctioned more than 100 percent, even if there is overlap on their violations, a Senate aide said.
Democrats also pushed for a narrow presidential waiver, requiring a notification and report to Congress from the president certifying that any sanctions waivers are justified.
Trump on Tuesday said he supported including sanctions against Iran and its proxy-militant group in Lebanon, Hezbollah, in the Russia Sanctions bill, and Senate aides said that Iran would likely be caught up in the provisions of the sanctions, given its close relationship with Russia.
Blumenthal, when asked about the president’s request to include Hezbollah, rejected any more changes to the bill.
“With all due respect to the president, he has approved this bill, and we should move forward with this bill rather than opening it, in my view, to other potential targets,” he said.
At that meeting, Trump signaled a warmer relationship with Zelensky, offered to buy Ukrainian drones and give Ukraine permission to co-produce Patriot interceptors — a significant announcement that ties the U.S. and Ukraine together militarily, if followed through.
“For those members who went to the NATO summit, I will say there was some nervous energy about what might come as a result of the president’s visit,” a Senate Democratic aide said, referring to the Trump-Zelensky meeting.
“The members who were there were pleasantly pleased to hear about the deliverables that were announced, including on co-production Patriot interceptors, data sharing between the Pentagon and the Ukrainians, the timing of the White House announcing its support of this bill was pretty much perfectly in line with all of that.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at The Hill ↗ · Axios ↗
A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday released an updated version of sanctions legislation targeting Russia over its war in Ukraine, the result of a months-long negotiation…
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday released an updated version of sanctions legislation targeting Russia over its war in Ukraine, the result of a months-long negotiation led by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that reached a breakthrough shortly before his death.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle say passing the legislation would mark a fitting tribute for Graham, who died suddenly late Saturday night. His final week of life included a trip to Ukraine and efforts to bring over the finish line compromise language in the bill, gaining key buy-in from the Trump administration and Democrats.
“I’ll start by channeling my inner Lindsey Graham, this is a big effing deal,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the original co-sponsor of the bill, said during a press conference Tuesday.
The bill targets Russian profits from its oil and gas exports, which make up the vast majority of the Kremlin’s revenue. It comes as Ukraine has developed increased long-range strikes hitting Russian energy facilities, compounding an economic crisis in the country that has soured public opinion on the war.
“It gives the United States leverage, but it also gives Ukraine critical leverage, hopefully at peace talks, because the ultimate goal here is peace. Nobody wants this war to continue,” Blumenthal said.
Senators released the bill text Tuesday with an initial grouping of 26 co-sponsors, divided evenly between both sides of the aisle, according to a Senate aide. They expect to reach at least 60 or more “rapidly,” to ensure the bill’s passage and give it a veto-proof majority. A 2025 version of the bill had more than 80 co-sponsors in the Senate but was blocked by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), at the request of the White House, amid negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Blumenthal said Thune told him he’s prepared to bring the bill to the floor when the text has enough co-sponsors to guarantee passage.
“I think we have the votes,” Blumenthal said. “The timing, I think, the quicker the better. Not only as a tribute to Senator Graham, but also because it matters to Ukraine.”
Blumenthal described the text of the bill as imposing “sledgehammer sanctions” against Russia and its enablers.
The compromise legislation provides for mandatory sanctions on Russia’s political leadership, financial institutions, its energy sector and sanctions evaders.
The text of the bill, called the Sanctioning Russia Act 2026, was finalized between senators and the White House before Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara last week.
Graham, traveling with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the NATO summit to finalize the text. The meeting aimed at coming to an agreement on language that satisfied Democrats’ concerns over granting the president too much authority over tariffs, and White House concerns for flexibility for President Trump.
Senate aides did not detail what specifically Trump wanted out of the bill, but the text has a sliding tariff rate, a ceiling of 100 percent, and an exemption for countries that are taking significant steps to reduce their Russian gas imports.
The latest version of the bill compels the president to impose a tariff on the top five major purchasers of Russian energy — that targets China, but could also include U.S. partners and Ukraine supporters in Europe and Asia.
An earlier version would have imposed a 500 percent tariff on the purchasers of Russian energy, a sweeping definition that would have put at least 63 countries in the crosshairs.
Democrats framed the narrowing of countries triggering sanctions as a win in reining in executive tariff authority.
Blumenthal said Tuesday that the exact tariff rate is determined by the U.S. Trade Representative but is expected to be set at “a level appropriate to discourage strongly, China, India, other major purchasers of Russian oil and gas.”
Blumenthal added that the tariff rate should “should bring maximum pressure to bear on Russia and its complicit partners.”
The White House provided its support of the bill in writing, a key show of commitment for a long-stalled bill that Graham and Blumenthal introduced in April 2025.
“There were high-level conversations, including with Bessent, Graham and Shaheen to be able to get to a place where not everyone’s going to get exactly what they want, but there is a path forward to pressure Russia,” a Senate Democratic aide said.
“This is the only product that currently has buy-in from everybody and likely the only product that is going to move forward and put pressure on Russia the way we all want to see that.”
The legislation compels the president to impose sanctions within 30 days of its passage – making the sanctions mandatory, compared to the 2025 version of the bill that made them contingent on Russia’s refusal to engage in negotiations with Ukraine.
The top five purchasers of Russian crude oil, according to data held by Senate aides, include China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan. The top five importers of Russian natural gas include China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium.
Countries are exempt from the tariff if their imports of natural gas are less than 15 percent of the total annual exports of natural gas from Russia for a 12-month period, and are also taking significant steps to reduce Russian gas imports — that’s expected to exclude Europe and Japan from being subject to tariffs.
“These sanctions are the result of the renewed convergence between Europe and the U.S. that we have been working on during the G7 meeting in Evian,” a European official told The Hill.
“Increasing pressure on Russia is necessary to end the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The bill also provides for tariffs to be imposed on countries helping Russia evade sanctions, including through involvement in its so-called ghost fleet of ships transiting Russian energy exports around the world. These ships carry Russian crude oil or gas but are unmarked, making them difficult to identify and block.
Senate aides said that an interagency process would need to determine officially which countries are evading Russia sanctions and subject to tariffs. But an analysis by Senate aides highlighted China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Singapore and “certain Central Asian countries,” as locations where sanctions evasion is taking place.
Countries cannot be sanctioned more than 100 percent, even if there is overlap on their violations, a Senate aide said.
Democrats also pushed for a narrow presidential waiver, requiring a notification and report to Congress from the president certifying that any sanctions waivers are justified.
Trump on Tuesday said he supported including sanctions against Iran and its proxy-militant group in Lebanon, Hezbollah, in the Russia Sanctions bill, and Senate aides said that Iran would likely be caught up in the provisions of the sanctions, given its close relationship with Russia.
Blumenthal, when asked about the president’s request to include Hezbollah, rejected any more changes to the bill.
“With all due respect to the president, he has approved this bill, and we should move forward with this bill rather than opening it, in my view, to other potential targets,” he said.
At that meeting, Trump signaled a warmer relationship with Zelensky, offered to buy Ukrainian drones and give Ukraine permission to co-produce Patriot interceptors — a significant announcement that ties the U.S. and Ukraine together militarily, if followed through.
“For those members who went to the NATO summit, I will say there was some nervous energy about what might come as a result of the president’s visit,” a Senate Democratic aide said, referring to the Trump-Zelensky meeting.
“The members who were there were pleasantly pleased to hear about the deliverables that were announced, including on co-production Patriot interceptors, data sharing between the Pentagon and the Ukrainians, the timing of the White House announcing its support of this bill was pretty much perfectly in line with all of that.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at The Hill ↗ · Axios ↗
A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday released an updated version of sanctions legislation targeting Russia over its war in Ukraine, the result of a months-long negotiation led by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that reached a breakthrough shortly before his death.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle say passing the legislation would mark a fitting tribute for Graham, who died suddenly late Saturday night. His final week of life included a trip to Ukraine and efforts to bring over the finish line compromise language in the bill, gaining key buy-in from the Trump administration and Democrats.
“I’ll start by channeling my inner Lindsey Graham, this is a big effing deal,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the original co-sponsor of the bill, said during a press conference Tuesday.
The bill targets Russian profits from its oil and gas exports, which make up the vast majority of the Kremlin’s revenue. It comes as Ukraine has developed increased long-range strikes hitting Russian energy facilities, compounding an economic crisis in the country that has soured public opinion on the war.
“It gives the United States leverage, but it also gives Ukraine critical leverage, hopefully at peace talks, because the ultimate goal here is peace. Nobody wants this war to continue,” Blumenthal said.
Senators released the bill text Tuesday with an initial grouping of 26 co-sponsors, divided evenly between both sides of the aisle, according to a Senate aide. They expect to reach at least 60 or more “rapidly,” to ensure the bill’s passage and give it a veto-proof majority. A 2025 version of the bill had more than 80 co-sponsors in the Senate but was blocked by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), at the request of the White House, amid negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Blumenthal said Thune told him he’s prepared to bring the bill to the floor when the text has enough co-sponsors to guarantee passage.
“I think we have the votes,” Blumenthal said. “The timing, I think, the quicker the better. Not only as a tribute to Senator Graham, but also because it matters to Ukraine.”
Blumenthal described the text of the bill as imposing “sledgehammer sanctions” against Russia and its enablers.
The compromise legislation provides for mandatory sanctions on Russia’s political leadership, financial institutions, its energy sector and sanctions evaders.
The text of the bill, called the Sanctioning Russia Act 2026, was finalized between senators and the White House before Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara last week.
Graham, traveling with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the NATO summit to finalize the text. The meeting aimed at coming to an agreement on language that satisfied Democrats’ concerns over granting the president too much authority over tariffs, and White House concerns for flexibility for President Trump.
Senate aides did not detail what specifically Trump wanted out of the bill, but the text has a sliding tariff rate, a ceiling of 100 percent, and an exemption for countries that are taking significant steps to reduce their Russian gas imports.
The latest version of the bill compels the president to impose a tariff on the top five major purchasers of Russian energy — that targets China, but could also include U.S. partners and Ukraine supporters in Europe and Asia.
An earlier version would have imposed a 500 percent tariff on the purchasers of Russian energy, a sweeping definition that would have put at least 63 countries in the crosshairs.
Democrats framed the narrowing of countries triggering sanctions as a win in reining in executive tariff authority.
Blumenthal said Tuesday that the exact tariff rate is determined by the U.S. Trade Representative but is expected to be set at “a level appropriate to discourage strongly, China, India, other major purchasers of Russian oil and gas.”
Blumenthal added that the tariff rate should “should bring maximum pressure to bear on Russia and its complicit partners.”
The White House provided its support of the bill in writing, a key show of commitment for a long-stalled bill that Graham and Blumenthal introduced in April 2025.
“There were high-level conversations, including with Bessent, Graham and Shaheen to be able to get to a place where not everyone’s going to get exactly what they want, but there is a path forward to pressure Russia,” a Senate Democratic aide said.
“This is the only product that currently has buy-in from everybody and likely the only product that is going to move forward and put pressure on Russia the way we all want to see that.”
The legislation compels the president to impose sanctions within 30 days of its passage – making the sanctions mandatory, compared to the 2025 version of the bill that made them contingent on Russia’s refusal to engage in negotiations with Ukraine.
The top five purchasers of Russian crude oil, according to data held by Senate aides, include China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan. The top five importers of Russian natural gas include China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium.
Countries are exempt from the tariff if their imports of natural gas are less than 15 percent of the total annual exports of natural gas from Russia for a 12-month period, and are also taking significant steps to reduce Russian gas imports — that’s expected to exclude Europe and Japan from being subject to tariffs.
“These sanctions are the result of the renewed convergence between Europe and the U.S. that we have been working on during the G7 meeting in Evian,” a European official told The Hill.
“Increasing pressure on Russia is necessary to end the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The bill also provides for tariffs to be imposed on countries helping Russia evade sanctions, including through involvement in its so-called ghost fleet of ships transiting Russian energy exports around the world. These ships carry Russian crude oil or gas but are unmarked, making them difficult to identify and block.
Senate aides said that an interagency process would need to determine officially which countries are evading Russia sanctions and subject to tariffs. But an analysis by Senate aides highlighted China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Singapore and “certain Central Asian countries,” as locations where sanctions evasion is taking place.
Countries cannot be sanctioned more than 100 percent, even if there is overlap on their violations, a Senate aide said.
Democrats also pushed for a narrow presidential waiver, requiring a notification and report to Congress from the president certifying that any sanctions waivers are justified.
Trump on Tuesday said he supported including sanctions against Iran and its proxy-militant group in Lebanon, Hezbollah, in the Russia Sanctions bill, and Senate aides said that Iran would likely be caught up in the provisions of the sanctions, given its close relationship with Russia.
Blumenthal, when asked about the president’s request to include Hezbollah, rejected any more changes to the bill.
“With all due respect to the president, he has approved this bill, and we should move forward with this bill rather than opening it, in my view, to other potential targets,” he said.
At that meeting, Trump signaled a warmer relationship with Zelensky, offered to buy Ukrainian drones and give Ukraine permission to co-produce Patriot interceptors — a significant announcement that ties the U.S. and Ukraine together militarily, if followed through.
“For those members who went to the NATO summit, I will say there was some nervous energy about what might come as a result of the president’s visit,” a Senate Democratic aide said, referring to the Trump-Zelensky meeting.
“The members who were there were pleasantly pleased to hear about the deliverables that were announced, including on co-production Patriot interceptors, data sharing between the Pentagon and the Ukrainians, the timing of the White House announcing its support of this bill was pretty much perfectly in line with all of that.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at The Hill ↗ · Axios ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday released an updated version of sanctions legislation targeting Russia over its war in Ukraine, the result of a months-long negotiation…