Russia has warned that new US sanctions on Russia could undermine efforts to end the war in Ukraine, after President Donald Trump signed sweeping legislation giving his administration wider powers to punish Moscow and countries buying its energy.
The Kremlin said the measures risked complicating negotiations, while Russian officials appeared to hope that Mr Trump would use provisions allowing him to waive the sanctions rather than impose them in full.
Dmitri S Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, described the legislation as “an unfriendly action” and said additional American sanctions would “definitely complicate efforts to reach a peaceful resolution in Ukraine”.
The bill, named after Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina who died in July, allows tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries importing Russian oil and gas. It also permits tariffs of up to 500 per cent on Russian imports into the United States, as well as tougher action against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and its banking system.
However, the law allows Mr Trump to waive any of the measures against Russia on national security grounds, provided the White House informs Congress of its decision.
Trump faces pressure over Russia sanctions
Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, said Mr Trump had shown little appetite for putting pressure on Vladimir Putin. He predicted that the president might sign the law, issue waivers and seek to use its provisions as leverage.
Russian officials may share that expectation. Grigory Karasin, chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia’s upper chamber of Parliament, said signals from Washington suggested the United States wanted to continue developing relations with Moscow.
“I’m convinced that these sanctions don’t have much of an impact on the negotiations because we’re talking about serious issues,” Mr Karasin told the state-controlled outlet Lenta.ru.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Mr Trump’s decision to sign the legislation and called for its provisions to be implemented quickly. He said the best way to honour Senator Graham’s memory would be to put the law into effect “fully and swiftly”.
The legislation was passed by the Senate in August by a veto-proof majority of 86 to 11. Daniel Fried, a former State Department sanctions co-ordinator, said Congress did not have to wait passively for the White House to act.
“They can do something,” Mr Fried said, arguing that Mr Trump could attempt to persuade countries such as China and India to reduce their purchases of Russian oil, as the United States had done with Iranian oil during the Obama administration.
Mr Trump’s willingness to use the new powers remains uncertain. His special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner recently travelled to Moscow before meeting Ukrainian officials as part of efforts to revive diplomacy, while the White House has considered business agreements with Russia as an incentive for peace before Moscow ends the fighting.
Any such deals would require a waiver because the new law prohibits US investment in Russia. Critics have also warned that the same authority could be used against the European Union, where several countries still import Russian oil and gas, although the bloc aims to end those imports next year.
China’s response could also determine the impact of the measures. Mr Gabuev said Beijing was likely to resist US restrictions, potentially allowing Russia to continue selling oil, albeit at a greater discount and with China gaining more influence over Moscow.
Higher energy and food prices could further discourage Mr Trump from imposing the harshest tariffs. Although direct US imports from Russia are limited, Russia is the second-largest supplier of fertiliser to the United States after Canada, meaning a 500 per cent tariff could inflict greater short-term damage on American buyers than on Russia.
Former US pressure on Russia has included sanctions against two major Russian oil companies and tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil. Mr Trump has so far avoided penalising China, the biggest buyer of Russian fossil fuels.
