Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina) said the Senate is preparing a sanctions bill targeting Russia’s trading partners, increasing pressure on Moscow in an effort to force it to end the war against Ukraine. President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday evening that the Senate initiative “is fine with me” — his clearest endorsement of the measures to date. In a post on X, Graham, one of the bill’s chief backers, wrote that “with President Trump’s blessing” the Senate intends to advance sanctions to “keep up the momentum and bring this war to a conclusion — honorably, justly and once and for all.”
According to the senator, “the bill is designed to give President Trump more flexibility and more tools to push Putin toward negotiations by exerting pressure both on him and on countries such as Iran that support him.” He also noted the “wide bipartisan support” the initiative enjoys in both chambers of Congress.
Previously, senators were reluctant to move the measure forward without a direct signal from the president, and the bill sat idle for several weeks while Trump held meetings with Vladimir Putin. Now, after receiving presidential backing, Congress may proceed to a vote; the resolution already has more than 80 co-sponsors in the Senate.
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The bill grants Trump the authority to impose secondary sanctions on countries such as China and India that purchase Russian oil and gas. The goal is to cut off the revenue streams from energy exports that substantially finance Russia’s war against Ukraine. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump also suggested that Iran could be added to the list.
“As you know, I proposed this myself, so any country doing business with Russia will face very serious sanctions,” Trump said. “They may add Iran to that,” he added.
The additional restrictions are meant to increase pressure on Moscow and push it toward ending the war. Last month, Trump imposed new sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies — Rosneft and Lukoil — after saying that his talks with Putin showed no signs of progress toward peace.