After more than a year of political hesitation, the United States has put its toughest economic weapon against Russia into law. On Friday, September 18, President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 — the most significant Ukraine-related legislation Congress has passed since he returned to the White House.
The law is named for the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of Ukraine who died on July 11 after championing the bill for months. It targets the financial engine of Vladimir Putin's war: Russia's energy and defence industries, the shadow fleet of tankers Moscow uses to dodge existing sanctions, and the foreign buyers who keep Kremlin oil revenues flowing. It also extends sanctions on Iran's energy and weapons sectors.
What the law does
The centrepiece is sweeping discretionary power handed to the president: Trump may now impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top purchasers of Russian oil and gas — a list headed by China and India. The bill tightens the net around Russian officials and financial institutions as well as the so-called shadow fleet, aiming to deprive Moscow of the funds it uses to pay for its war against Ukraine.
A long road through Congress
Graham introduced the bill in April 2025 alongside dozens of senators, but it stalled for over a year. According to Reuters, it took until July 2026 — days before Graham's sudden death — for Trump to allow Republican congressional leaders to schedule a vote. The Senate passed it in August by 86 to 11. The House followed on September 16, voting 262 to 159, with 58 Democrats breaking with their party's leaders to join all but seven Republicans.
Representative Michael McCaul, one of the Republicans' leading foreign-policy voices, said the bill "will cripple Russia's war machine and finally bring Putin to the negotiating table." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Trump for signing what he called "critically important legislation" and urged that its provisions be implemented "fully and swiftly," adding that the best way to honour Graham's memory would be to enforce the law without delay.
Not everyone is cheering
The bill faced pushback from several directions. Some House Democrats, including Representatives Gregory Meeks and Don Beyer, warned it grants the president excessive tariff authority and could raise prices for Americans. China said it "consistently opposed" the kind of long-arm jurisdiction the bill represents when it lacks UN Security Council authorisation, in the words of a foreign ministry spokesperson. And analysts note the White House is unlikely to open a full trade war with Beijing while the tariffs remain discretionary rather than mandatory — the law gives Trump the weapon, but he chooses whether to fire it.
Why it matters for Ukraine
For Kyiv, the signing marks a turning point in Washington. After months of stalled diplomacy and stalled votes, Congress has handed the White House a loaded economic instrument aimed squarely at the Kremlin's oil revenues — the money that buys Russia's missiles, drones and soldiers' pay. Combined with Ukraine's own campaign hammering Russian refineries, the pressure on Putin's war economy is now coming from both directions. Whether Trump pulls the tariff trigger, and how fast, will decide whether the Graham Act becomes the lever its namesake spent his final months demanding — or another sanction on paper that Moscow learns to dodge.
Watch our latest video coverage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcrosUmvKHU