The U.S. Senate just passed the ‘sanctions bill from hell.’ Is Russia in trouble?
On August 7, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to impose new sanctions on Russia. The legislation had been championed over the past year by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine in Washington. Graham died on July 11, a day after visiting Kyiv. In the media, the legislation has often been dubbed the “sanctions bill from hell.”
On August 7, the U.S. Senate passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia, championed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Though Graham passed away on July 11, the legislation still went through and has been dubbed the "sanctions bill from hell." The bill targets Russia's political and military leadership, major state-owned companies, banks, the Central Bank of Russia, infrastructure projects, and the country's oil tankers.
It also imposes tariffs on Russian imports and the five largest buyers of Russian energy, primarily targeting China and India. Though additional sanctions on officials and companies are unlikely to significantly pressure the Kremlin, the tariffs could put pressure on China and India, key trading partners. The bill also grants the president power to impose tariffs on individual cases, a contentious provision among lawmakers.
Senator Rand Paul, the only Republican to oppose the bill, argued that these tariffs primarily increase costs for American consumers rather than weakening Russia's war effort. Despite the concerns, the Senate passed the bill, with Democrats' compromises on India's imports and Graham's memory being the main factors.
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