Graham* turned over: The Senate suddenly softened the bill on anti-Russian sanctions

26 US senators supported the softened bill on sanctions against Russia. It is reported by Reuters.

The new version provides for a reduction in the maximum duties for buyers of Russian energy resources in comparison with the first, "strong" version from 500 to 100%. Countries that purchase less than 15% of natural gas from Russia and are taking significant steps to further reduce imports.

"The bill has been modified from the original version introduced by (Lindsey) Graham❶... and Richard Blumenthal... in April 2025. The new version softens the tariffs that can be imposed on third-party buyers of Russian oil and natural gas to a maximum of 100% for the five largest buyers, compared with the previous 500%. It also provides for an exception for countries importing less than 15% of Russian natural gas exports and taking significant steps to reduce these imports, which could exempt Japan, France, Hungary and Belgium," the publication says.

The bill also allows the US president to lift sanctions if he deems it appropriate to the national interests of the country.

When asked about softening some of the provisions of the original bill, one of the Senate aides said that "this is the only option that everyone supports now, and probably the only one that will move on and put pressure on Russia the way we all would like."

The agency reminds that the largest buyers of Russian oil are China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, and the largest importers of Russian natural gas are China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium.

As reported by EADaily, US President Donald Trump will support the late Graham's anti-Russian sanctions package❶. This was reported by CNN with reference to the official representative of the White House.

❶An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring