Online Reporter
US President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping sanctions Bill, taking aim at Russia’s economy by punishing major purchasers of its oil and gas. The Bill, passed by the US House of Representatives earlier last week, gives Trump broad powers to levy tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas – most significantly China and India.
At Trump’s behest, the Bill also extends to Iran’s energy and weapons sectors.
The Bill is named after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Ukraine’s staunchest defenders in Washington before his death on July 11.
The 48-page Bill, formally titled the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, includes exceptions for countries that import less than 15 percent of their natural gas from Russia and are working to lessen their dependency.
Additionally, the Bill includes sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior figures within the Russian government as well as banks and other financial institutions and Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers used to circumvent existing sanctions.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a New York Democrat, previously described the legislation as “scorching sanctions” which would “throttle Putin’s war machine”.
Data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, or CREA, shows that China accounted for 50 percent of Russian crude exports between December 2022 and August 2026, followed by India at 37 percent.
Turkey and the European union each accounted for 5 percent during the same time period, although Russian energy exports to the EU have been decreasing.
Senator Graham had long sought to push the Trump administration to do more to punish Russia for the war that followed its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. – BBC
