WASHINGTON DC – US lawmakers are ramping up economic pressure on Moscow, unveiling a two-pronged strategy aimed at choking off revenue for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On Thursday, the House pushed a sweeping bipartisan sanctions bill, while Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called for the seizure of “shadow fleet” oil tankers that skirt existing sanctions.
Taken together, the moves signal growing impatience on Capitol Hill with stalled diplomacy – and a renewed willingness to use economic coercion, maritime enforcement, and punitive tariffs to choke off revenue sustaining the Kremlin’s war machine.
The House bill is being led by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, with a broad roster of bipartisan co-sponsors spanning both leadership and rank-and-file members.
“Russia won’t negotiate an end to its war unless real pressure is applied on the Kremlin to stop its brutality,” Meeks said, calling the legislation a compromise that would “impose real costs on Russia and those fueling its war effort” while steering clear of broader global tariffs.
Fitzpatrick framed the bill as Congress asserting its role amid ongoing talks. “Negotiations do not relieve Congress of its responsibility to act,” he said, adding “Peace through strength is the discipline of negotiating from strength – of standing with Ukraine and making unmistakably clear that Russia’s campaign of aggression will not be normalized or rewarded.”
House sanctions blueprint – with an off-ramp
Unlike narrower sanctions packages, the House measure establishes a comprehensive framework linking Russia’s economic isolation directly to its behavior at the negotiating table.
The bill would mandate sanctions on senior Russian officials, oligarchs, and state-owned enterprises; sever Russia’s access to global finance by blocking transactions with major financial institutions; prohibit US investment and trading of Russian entities on US exchanges; and close loopholes allowing refined oil imports and sovereign debt purchases.
It would also target Russia’s energy leverage, sanctioning foreign actors who enable Russian oil, gas, LNG, and uranium production, and impose duties of up to 500 percent on Russian imports.
Additional provisions authorize sanctions tied to war crimes – including the kidnapping and wrongful deportation of Ukrainian children – and cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
Critically, the bill includes a tightly defined off-ramp: sanctions could only be lifted if Russia signs a peace agreement accepted by Ukraine and fully ceases hostilities, subject to congressional review.
“The only viable path to peace in Ukraine is putting pressure on the Kremlin,” said Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Europe subcommittee.
“The Kremlin must know that we will not rest until a durable Ukraine-supported peace deal is achieved,” he added.
Senate targets the oil lifeline
While the House moves to codify sanctions pressure, Graham and Blumenthal are urging the administration to go further – by physically seizing ships that transport sanctioned Russian oil.
Their resolution targets Russia’s vast “shadow fleet” of aging, often opaque oil tankers that evade sanctions and price caps.
Lawmakers say the fleet is responsible for moving between 60 and 80 percent of Russia’s illicit oil exports, providing a critical revenue stream for Putin’s war.
“Without a shadow fleet of oil tankers willing to illegally transport cheap sanctioned Russian oil, Putin’s war machine would grind to a halt,” Graham said. “Seize the ships. Help stop the war.”
Blumenthal called the resolution an urgent call for action, pressing the Trump administration to lead coordinated international seizures. “Putin’s slaughter in Ukraine could be stymied by stopping outlaw vessels from carrying cheap Russian oil to China, India, and others who prop up Putin’s economy,” he said.
The resolution cites recent US seizures of sanctioned vessels tied to Iran as precedent, arguing that confiscating Russian shadow fleet ships is both lawful and necessary to enforce existing sanctions regimes.
Building toward January
The dual push reflects rare alignment across chambers and parties on Russia policy – even as Congress remains divided on trade, tariffs, and broader foreign policy authorities.
House sponsors say they are continuing to build support with the goal of bringing the Peace Through Strength bill to the floor in January, alongside parallel efforts to advance the Ukraine Support Act through a discharge petition.
“Russia cannot wait it out or continue its war of aggression without facing significant consequences,” Meeks said.
And as lawmakers sharpen their message to Moscow, Fitzpatrick cast the moment in broader terms: “This is about setting the rules for a world that is watching whether America still enforces them.”
For Congress, the message is increasingly blunt – if negotiations fail to end the war, the economic battlefield is about to get much more punishing.