Lindsey Graham, Richard Blumenthal Reach Deal With Trump Administration To Advance Sanctioning Russia Act

A bipartisan group of US senators said it reached an agreement with the Trump administration to advance long-delayed legislation aimed at imposing tougher economic penalties on Russia and countries that continue to support Moscow’s war economy.

“The US Capitol building in Washington, DC, on June 18”

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The breakthrough was announced on July 10 as Republican Senator Lindsey Graham visited Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Graham said the agreement with the White House clears the way for the bill to move forward, arguing it would allow the United States to punish countries helping Russia evade Western sanctions.

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Graham said the legislation, known as the Sanctioning Russia Act, has been under negotiation for months by Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, along with Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

The bill targets Russia’s ability to keep earning money from energy exports through third countries, and Graham said the revised legislation would focus on five countries circumventing sanctions by purchasing Russian energy for resale.

In the same July 10 context, Trump told Zelenskyy in Ankara that “We’ve actually developed a good relationship,” as the renewed sanctions push came alongside discussions of military cooperation and efforts to end the war.

While the senators said they expected to roll out the updated sanctions legislation “very soon,” CNN reported it remains unclear if President Donald Trump will directly back the bill’s passage.

The package would allow Trump to place heavy tariffs on imports from nations that import Russian oil, uranium and natural gas, with possible exceptions for countries that contribute to the Ukrainian war effort, and the senators released a statement saying, “We are proud to announce that we have reached an agreement with the Trump Administration to move our updated Russia sanctions legislation forward.”

CBS News

Graham told reporters in Kyiv that the agreement meant the legislation “It means it’s going to become law,” and he said the White House would support the revised version after concluding his 10th wartime visit to Ukraine.

Zelensky hailed the senators’ support in a post on X, saying “Right now, it is important to strengthen our long-range sanctions pressure on Russia with new sanction steps from our partners,” after Graham informed him about the work in Congress on the relevant bill.

At the same time, Senate Majority Leader John Thune maintained the Senate will follow the White House’s lead and won’t bring the sanctions bill to the floor until they are certain of the administration’s backing, with the calendar including must-pass legislation and a government funding deadline.

The senators framed the sanctions agreement as a way to create “tools to exact a heavy price on those who buy Russian oil and natural gas, fueling the Putin war machine,” and they said the legislative and executive branches must work together as Russia intensifies attacks.

“The Trump administration will support a draft bill that would impose heavy financial penalties on purchasers of Russian oil, adding to economic pressure on Moscow, all in an effort to bring Russia's four-year war on Ukraine to a close, sources told CBS News”

CBS News

CBS News reported that the Trump White House approved the latest draft of a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, and it said the draft would impose heavy financial penalties on purchasers of Russian oil, adding to economic pressure on Moscow in an effort to bring Russia’s four-year war on Ukraine to a close.

The Reuters account said the bill would impose sanctions on countries doing business with Russia, including buyers of its energy exports, over Moscow’s failure to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.

In parallel, the July 10 diplomatic setting included Trump telling Zelensky in Ankara that the US would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors and moving forward with a bilateral drone agreement, as senior US officials told RFE/RL that Trump expressed support for the updated sanctions legislation.

For the senators, the immediate stakes were whether the updated sanctions package could become law and be rolled out “very soon,” while the sources also described the White House’s role in shaping the final language and timing for Senate action.