The US Senate has approved the late Senator Lindsey Graham's bill to tighten sanctions against Russia and Iran. This is written by Reuters.
After his death, his colleagues in the chamber agreed to support the initiative as a sign of their last respects to him.
The bill will then be sent to the House of Representatives, which is currently on recess. The House is scheduled to meet for a brief special session on August 10, during which they may consider the bill.
The vote was 68 to 9 in favor of the “Lindsey O. Graham Russia and Iran Sanctions Act of 2026,” which would impose sanctions on Russian officials and impose tough tariffs on China, India, and other countries to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Earlier, media outlets reported that in the evening outside Kyiv, debates began in the US Senate on sanctions against Russia, one of the co-authors of which is the late Senator Lindsey Graham, and which President Donald Trump is ready to sign.
The senators who took the floor mentioned the intensification of Russian terror against Ukrainian cities and the need to make it more difficult for Russia to obtain funds to continue the war against Ukraine.
What does the bill provide for?
It is worth noting that the document provides for the introduction of a 100 percent secondary duty against countries that continue to purchase Russian oil and gas. First of all, we are talking about China and India.
In addition, the bill provides for sanctions against Russia's "shadow fleet" of tankers, Russian financial institutions, including the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, as well as major state-owned energy projects, including Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG-1, Arctic LNG-2, and Arctic LNG-3.
The bill allows the US authorities to impose tariffs of up to 500% on imports from Russia. However, the volume of Russian imports to the US is small, although it has increased with the arrival of Donald Trump.
These are mainly critically important products: fertilizers, metals and nuclear fuel. Washington is unlikely to do without Russian fuel for American nuclear reactors, Russia's share in this segment is 20%. The US authorities themselves banned the import of reactor fuel from Russia, but immediately added an exception for themselves. The US Department of Energy admitted that they simply cannot reduce the volume of purchases.
Representative Richard Neal and Senator Ron Wyden have openly opposed the bill in its current form. They fear that it would give Trump unchecked authority to impose tariffs that the US president has loved and that, according to congressmen, have led to accelerated inflation. Democrat Gregory Meeks called the bill a "Trojan horse" and also expressed concerns about Trump's abuses.
The bill also gives the US the ability to impose sanctions against Vladimir Putin, top officials, the Russian military command, and Russian businessmen.
