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Sep. Lindsey Graham announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump has approved a Russian sanctions bill designed to pressure Moscow to end its war with Ukraine.
Graham addressed this in a post on X, calling it a key shift in the US approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“Following a very productive meeting with President Trump today on a number of issues, he has given the green light to a bipartisan Bill on sanctions against Russia which I worked on for months with Senator Blumenthal and many others,” Graham said.
“This will be timely, since Ukraine is making concessions for the sake of peace, and Putin only talks about continuing to kill innocents.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 31, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Under the Russia Sanctions Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation would give Trump sweeping, nearly unprecedented powers to economically isolate Russia and punish the world's largest economies that continue to trade with Moscow and finance its war against Ukraine.
Specifically, the bill would require the United States to impose a 500 percent tariff on all goods imported from any country that continues to purchase Russian oil, petroleum products, or uranium. This measure would effectively put financial pressure on Russia while deterring foreign governments from undermining US sanctions.
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President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting at the White House on October 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries that buy cheap Russian oil to fuel their fuel. Putin's war machine' Graham said.
“This bill will give President Trump enormous leverage over countries like ChinaIndia and Brazil to encourage them to stop buying cheap Russian oil, which is funding Putin's bloodbath against Ukraine.”
Graham said the vote could happen as soon as next week and that he hopes for a strong bipartisan vote.
The US military seized two sanctioned tankers in the Atlantic Ocean
The tanker ship Bella 1 was spotted in the Singapore Strait after US officials said the US Coast Guard was pursuing the oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela. (Hakon Rimmereid/via Reuters)
The decision on the Russian sanctions bill follows another sharp escalation of American pressure on Moscow. Earlier on Wednesday, US troops reportedly seized an oil tanker attempting to transport sanctioned Venezuelan oil to Russia.
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Graham publicly celebrated the seizure in another post on X, calling it part of a broader winning streak of American intervention targeting Venezuela and Cuba.
In the post, he also took aim at critics like the senator. Rand Paulwho opposed the bill, arguing that it would harm America's trade relations with much of the world.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
