In the US, a bill imposing sanctions on Russia has secured the necessary votes: what happens next?
Axios reports this, citing a source.
The sanctions were backed by 61 senators, 39 of whom are Republicans and 22 Democrats. Furthermore, according to Axios, the biggest challenge will be securing time for the bill to be considered in the Senate.
If the bill is approved, it will still need to be passed by the US House of Representatives.
This bill imposes a 100 per cent tariff on countries that purchase Russian energy resources. These sanctions were recently scaled back, as the previous version had proposed a 500 per cent tariff.
The new bill also proposes an exemption for countries that import less than 15 per cent of Russian oil and are doing everything possible to reduce their imports (this applies to Japan, Hungary, France and Belgium).
On 14 July, CNN reported that Trump was prepared to back a legislative initiative to increase sanctions pressure on Russia. On 11 July, US Senator Lindsey Graham, who supported Ukraine and actively promoted this bill, passed away. The day before, Graham had visited Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The senator said that he and his colleagues had agreed with the White House on a new version of the bill imposing sanctions on Russia.
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