New Russia sanctions bill ‘on hold’ over Trump’s stance – Bloomberg

The senators behind the “bone-crushing” legislation are not willing to challenge the White House, according to the outlet

The latest drive in the US Congress for more sanctions on Russia, spearheaded by Senator Lindsay Graham, is now stalled due to President Donald Trump’s opposition, Bloomberg reported over the weekend.

The “bone crushing” legislation that would impose a 500% tariff on countries that buy Russian energy, uranium, and other raw materials has more than 80 co-sponsors in the Senate, which Bloomberg described as “veto-proof backing.” But lawmakers are still hesitant to challenge the president, the outlet claimed.

Earlier this week, Trump said he had not even looked at the bill and would only consider sanctions “at the right time.” His position “put the brakes” on a push to advance the measure as soon as this month, according to Bloomberg. Graham has previously said he planned to do so before the G7 summit scheduled for June 15-17 in Canada, but the effort is now “on hold,” Bloomberg reported.

On Thursday, the Republican senator wrote on X that he had “coordinated closely with the White House in this endeavor from day one,” adding that the bill was only aimed at giving Trump “more tools when it comes to Russia.” 

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The bill’s Democrat co-sponsor Richard Blumenthal told Bloomberg that he and Garaham were still working on making the bill “more acceptable” to the White House.

On Thursday, Trump told journalists he had a “deadline” in his “brain” and would decide when to act if it became clear that a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev could not be reached. He also stated that he was willing to impose sanctions against both Russia and Ukraine.

The president said that the Senate’s sanctions bill would be “guided by me,” but suggested it might be better to let Russia and Ukraine continue fighting “for a while” before “pulling them apart.” Trump also expressed his concern about recent Ukrainian drone attacks on long-range nuclear-capable Russian bombers, saying it had increased the risk of escalation by giving Moscow a reason to retaliate.

Moscow has accused Kiev of escalating its attacks in an effort to undermine US-backed peace talks. Russia has also claimed that Trump is receiving “filtered” information about the conflict from those pushing Washington to support Ukraine.