U.S. President Donald Trump has given the “green light” to a bipartisan bill that seeks to bolster sanctions against Russia, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said after meeting with the American leader.
“After a very productive meeting today with President Trump on a variety of issues, he greenlit the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that I have been working on for months with Senator Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and many others,” Graham wrote.
The decision is timely, Graham said, as “Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent.”
He added that “this bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine.”
The legislation would give Trump significant leverage over countries such as China, India and Brazil, with the aim of pressuring them to stop purchasing discounted Russian oil that finances Russia’s bloody war against Ukraine.
“I look forward to a strong bipartisan vote, hopefully as early as next week,” Graham said.
In April, Trump said that Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin was deliberately dragging out ceasefire talks with Ukraine and suggested the possibility of “aggressive” sanctions, including measures that target Russia’s covert fleet of oil tankers.
Following those remarks, 50 senators from both parties introduced a sanctions bill that was backed by 81 of the Senate’s 100 lawmakers, Hromadske reported.
However, despite the failure of peace talks in Istanbul, Trump said in May that the U.S. would not tighten sanctions. In late June, bill sponsor Graham suggested that the president might sign the legislation, and on July 14 Trump again threatened Russia with “very severe tariffs” if a peace deal with Ukraine is not reached within 50 days.
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