WASHINGTON DC – For months, the most significant Russia sanctions package in a decade sat in a legislative deep-freeze, waiting for a signal from the only person who mattered. That signal likely arrived Wednesday – not with a press conference or a Truth Social blast, but with a quiet nod that has sent Senate leadership scrambling to see if they can actually deliver.
President Donald Trump has officially greenlit a long-stalled bipartisan sanctions bill, opening the door to what lawmakers claim could be the most aggressive economic pressure campaign yet aimed at Vladimir Putin.
But in a town where a “green light” often turns yellow the moment it hits the Senate floor, leadership is still stopping short of guaranteeing a vote next week.
The move, confirmed Wednesday by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), follows mounting frustration inside the West Wing over Russia’s perceived foot-dragging in peace talks, fresh maritime enforcement targeting Moscow’s “ghost fleet,” and a growing consensus among the MAGA national-security wing that Putin is simply playing for time.
“This wasn’t accidental, and it wasn’t symbolic,” said a senior Senate Republican aide, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.
“The president didn’t just say he was ‘OK’ with it. He greenlit it – and that’s a meaningful distinction around here,” the aide told Kyiv Post.
From legislative orphan to leverage tool
The legislation, the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, co-authored by Graham (R-SC) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), is a beast of a bill.
It would impose sweeping primary sanctions on Russia and secondary sanctions – including eye-popping tariffs of up to 500 percent – on third-party countries like China and India that continue to bankroll the Kremlin by purchasing discounted energy and uranium.
Despite boasting 85 co-sponsors, the package has been a political hot potato. As Kyiv Post reported in November, Senate leaders deliberately shelved the bill to avoid blowing up sensitive peace diplomacy and to manage deep Democratic anxiety over giving Trump expansive, unilateral tariff authority.
At the time, the bill was put on ice ahead of a Moscow trip by Trump’s chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff – a pause that signaled Congress was firmly in “wait-and-see” mode.
“You don’t bring this to the floor if the president might torch it the next day,” a Republican aide told Kyiv Post then.
“Drone theatrics” backfire
According to multiple Senate aides, the thaw began after a convergence of stalled diplomacy and continued civilian casualties. But the real turning point appears to be a shift in the US president’s personal “vibe” toward the Kremlin.
“The drone theatrics backfired,” one GOP aide told Kyiv Post Wednesday afternoon, referring to a recent, easily disproved Russian claim of a Ukrainian attack on a Putin residence. “The president doesn’t believe Putin – and now Congress has been told to act accordingly.”
The endorsement is also a tactical play: the bill gives Trump a massive stick to wave in front of Russia’s energy customers while keeping the “waiver” authority firmly in his pocket to use as a carrot later.
Still, the Senate Majority Leader’s office is moving with characteristic caution. Whether the bill actually hits the floor next week remains an open question.
Aides stress that leadership is still “whipsawing” the caucus on floor time, amendment risks, and how the White House wants to sequence the pain alongside ongoing backchannel talks.
“There’s momentum – real momentum – but no one is declaring victory yet,” a senior Democratic aide said. “In this building, timing is everything, and the calendar is a crowded place.”
Dual-track escalation
The green light on the Hill coincides with a “quiet-track” move at Foggy Bottom.
On Wednesday, the State Department formally notified the Senate of a proposed $14 million license for the re-export of US defense articles and technical data to Ukraine, according to congressional sources who informed Kyiv Post.
The move suggests the administration is moving toward a “squeeze and arm” strategy: tightening the screws on the Russian economy while incrementally boosting Ukraine’s hardware.
Alex Plitsas, a former senior Pentagon official now with the Atlantic Council, noted on social media the significance of the sequencing.
“First, the tankers get taken down. Now the president has greenlit secondary sanctions – something the administration had been holding off on,” Plitsas wrote. “The message to Putin is clear: the president doesn’t believe him.”
Plitsas emphasized that if the bill is signed, the “bite” would be felt quickly, likely within a month of implementation.
Counting votes – and risks
If the bill makes it to the floor, it is expected to pass with a “veto-proof” majority that would make it look like 1950s-era consensus. But the skeptics in the cloakroom remain wary.
“This bill only works if it reinforces the President’s strategy, not competes with it,” one senior aide said, adding: “For now, the signal is green – but Washington has learned the hard way not to assume the light won’t change back to red by Friday.”
For a Congress that has spent months waiting for the White House to tell them how to feel about Russia, the ambiguity is finally over.
The only question now is whether the Senate’s legendary inertia will kill the momentum before the first tariff is ever levied.
As one Senate Democratic aide put it Wednesday night, don’t hold your breath for a signing ceremony just yet – in Trump’s Washington, the “deal” is never done until the ink is dry and the tweets have stopped.