U.S. President Donald Trump has backed bipartisan legislation that would allow Washington to impose sweeping sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, including China and India, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday.
Graham said Trump had "greenlit" the proposal after a meeting earlier this week. The bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, would authorise tariffs of up to 500% on imports from countries that continue to do business with Russia’s energy sector.
China and India remain the largest buyers of Russian crude despite Western sanctions imposed after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. China accounted for nearly half of Russia’s crude exports in November, while India took about 38%, according to analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The move comes as the United States is involved in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Washington this week backed European proposals for post-war security guarantees for Kyiv, including a multinational monitoring force.
Russia has said it would not accept the deployment of troops from NATO member states in Ukraine.
