Trump backs congressional Russia sanctions bill
US President Donald Trump has said he supports a bipartisan bill in Congress that would authorize him to impose sweeping sanctions on Russia’s trade partners.
Trump made the remarks after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the president had “greenlit” legislation that would allow tariffs of up to 500% on countries that buy Russian oil and gas. Graham introduced the bill last year alongside Democrat Richard Blumenthal.
“I support it. I hope we don’t have to use it,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview aired Thursday. “You know, we have big sanctions on Russia right now. Russia’s economy is very bad, but they are much bigger than Ukraine,” he added.
Trump has expressed frustration that his attempts to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine over the past year have been unsuccessful, at times blaming both countries.
In November, he proposed a roadmap for peace that Ukraine and its European backers rejected as favoring Russia, while accusing Moscow of stalling talks.
Russia, in turn, accused Ukraine and the EU of making unrealistic demands and sabotaging the prospects of a deal.
In October, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on two of Russia’s largest energy companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.
Earlier this week, the US Coast Guard seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic for allegedly evading sanctions, prompting Moscow to call the operation illegal under international maritime law.
Russia has long maintained that the primary objective of Western sanctions is to eliminate economic competition and limit the development of individual states rather than help Ukraine.
“Their aim is obvious: to cling to their diminishing domination and rob [other] countries of the right to make independent political decisions,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last month.
