Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The US Senate passed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill that does not name India but could expose it and other major buyers of Russian energy to tariffs of up to 100 per cent.
Passed by the Senate by 86-11 vote, the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 now goes to the House of Representatives, where senior Democrats have objected to its tariff provisions.
The legislation requires the administration to identify countries using trade data rather than naming them in the statute. It covers the five largest importers of Russian crude oil, the five largest importers of Russian natural gas and the five leading countries facilitating Russian oil sanctions evasion.
Those determinations would be based on the most recent 12-month period and reviewed every 180 days.
India, China and Brazil were named separately by Republican Senator Deb Fischer in a statement supporting the bill. Her remarks are not part of its statutory text.
“The Kremlin’s war machine runs on the money it makes from selling cheap oil and gas to countries like China, India, and Brazil who then profit by reselling Russian energy at a markup,” Fischer said. “It is long overdue for these enablers to pay a price.”
She said the measure would pressure the world’s largest purchasers of Russian energy to reduce their dependence on Moscow.
The bill would impose primary and secondary sanctions against Russian officials, oligarchs, their family members, banks and financial institutions. It also targets foreign actors supporting Moscow’s war in Ukraine and Russia’s so-called shadow fleet used to transport oil and evade sanctions.
