Activity in the US regarding new restrictions on Russia has intensified. American lawmakers have introduced several amendments to the sanctions bill, one of which requires explicitly including the names of major Russian trading partners, including India. Furthermore, one amendment proposes completely removing provisions on imposing tariffs from this law.
This issue reached the lower house of the American parliament, the House of Representatives. The bill, titled the 'Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act,' was approved by the Senate last month by an overwhelming majority—11 to 86. The goal of this law is to impose strict restrictions on the Russian leadership and its energy sector.
The law also provides for monitoring fleets that assist Russia in selling oil and circumventing sanctions. The US believes that Russia uses funds obtained from crude oil trade to wage war against Ukraine.
This bill was intended to grant President Donald Trump the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on major countries purchasing oil from Russia. Although the version approved by the Senate on August 7 did not mention specific countries, it only stated that the rule would apply to the five countries purchasing the largest volumes of oil and gas.
Democratic Congressman Stan Hoyer proposed an amendment that directly includes countries such as China, India, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, the UAE, Singapore, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan in the law. On the other hand, Democratic Congressman Gregory Mix, who opposes granting Trump broad powers to impose tariffs, proposed deleting entire Section 113, which gives the president the right to establish secondary tariffs. Mix's proposal was supported by three other members of Congress.
