The US Senate has imposed an updated version of the bill on sanctions against Russia. The document was significantly softened after long negotiations with Trump

The US Senate has imposed an updated version of the Russia sanctions bill, initiated by the late Lindsey Graham, that softens the initial proposals for high tariffs on countries that import Russian energy.

Reuters writes about this.

In particular, the new version of the bill proposes to impose a 100% tariff on the five largest importers, while the previous version called for a 500% tariff, but on all. The new document proposes to make an exception for countries that import 15% of Russian oil and are doing everything possible to reduce imports. These are Japan, Hungary, France and Belgium.

According to Reuters, the five largest importers of Russian oil are China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, and of gas — China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium.

The bill also provides for sanctions against tankers of the Russian shadow fleet that do not use the services of Western companies; against Russian financial institutions, including the Central Bank of the Russian Federation; against the largest state energy projects of the Russian Federation: Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 1, 2, 3. The new version contains a provision that allows President Donald Trump to lift the sanctions if, in his opinion, this would contradict the national interests of the United States.

One of the Reuters interlocutors noted that such relaxations were the result of long months of negotiations to obtain Trumpʼs consent, and this compromise is "the only viable option."

• On July 14, CNN reported that Trump was ready to support a legislative initiative to increase sanctions pressure on Russia. On July 11, US Senator Lindsey Graham, who supported Ukraine and actively promoted the bill, died.
• The day before, Graham visited Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The senator said that he and his colleagues had agreed with the White House on a new version of the bill on sanctions against Russia.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.