President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that waived new sanctions on Russia that were set to take effect thanks to bipartisan legislation signed into law by the president last month.
Trump justified the decision by claiming the sanctions waiver “is in the national interests of the United States,” without offering further details. The president said he submitted a report to Congress elaborating on his reasons for waiving the sanctions.
A Friday report in The New York Times described the waiver as “another economic lifeline to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin,” as the sanctions had been designed “to target Russian officials, oligarchs, and financial institutions” and “squeeze the financial lifelines sustaining Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the sanctions waiver, and urged US lawmakers and voters to speak out against the US president’s actions.
“It is important that everyone in America… sees what is really happening,” Zelenskyy wrote in a Saturday social media post. “At a time when the Russians have carried out such a massive attack on our energy sector, a decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the [sanctions law], which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end.”
Zelenskyy emphasized that the sanctions package could still do a lot of good, but “it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters.”
Trump in recent weeks has been pressuring Ukraine to stop its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in a bid to lower global prices of gas and diesel, both of which have skyrocketed in recent months because of the president’s illegal war with Iran.
In addition to pressuring Ukraine, Trump also struck a deal with Russia to import diesel into the US, drawing a bipartisan rebuke from lawmakers who accused the president of funding Putin’s war machine.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) ripped Trump’s decision to waive the Russia sanctions in a Friday social media post.
“Trump’s latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners,” Beyer wrote, “and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression.”
Beyer also pointed to flaws in the sanctions bill that he said gave Trump too much discretionary power to not only waive sanctions on Russia, but to impose further tariffs on US allies.
“Congress must fix this flawed law,” he said, “to stop Trump from capitulating to Putin and ensure that it truly supports Ukraine.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Saturday slammed Trump’s sanctions waiver as “beyond irresponsible.”
“What part of enforcing a law passed 86-11 by the Senate does the President and his advisors not understand?” Tillis asked. “It’s unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who co-authored the sanctions law with the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), said Trump has shown “that he stands on the side of a bloodthirsty thug and the enablers of Russia’s war machine and against the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, and our European allies.”
“These waivers have nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin,” Blumenthal added. “I hope my Republican colleagues will join me in condemning this craven, cowardly action.”
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