Jan. 7 (UPI) — The Senate is poised to take up a bipartisan sanctions bill that would pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine after President Donald Trump okayed the effort on Wednesday.
The president met with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., earlier in the day and expressed his support for the bill that is co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and others.
“After a very productive meeting 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 and many others,” Graham said in a prepared statement.
Graham said the sanctions bill might be voted on as soon as next week.
“This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent,” Graham said.
“This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine,” he added.
Frustration with ongoing efforts to bring about a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia caused the president to express disappointment with Putin on Saturday.
“I’m not thrilled with Putin,” Trump said. “He’s killing too many people.”
The measure has 84 co-sponsors in the Senate and likely would have no problem surpassing the 60-vote total needed to overcome the Senate’s filibuster rule.
It would penalize Russians and Russian entities that Trump says are blocking efforts to end the war that started when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
The proposed bill also would enable the president to punish nations that buy oil from Russia, including Brazil, China and India, which enables Russia to fund its war effort.
Graham and Blumenthal introduced the Russian sanctions bill in April and have been revising it while awaiting Trump’s advance approval.
The sanctions bill would move forward after Russia deployed a submarine and two surface vessels to protect an oil tanker named the Marinera that initially was flying flags for Guyana and Comoros as the U.S. Coast Guard began pursuing it two weeks ago.
The vessel changed to a Russian flag, but U.S. forces boarded it on Wednesday in the North Atlantic while the vessel was located between Iceland and England.
