President Donald Trump has blocked a sweeping package of congressionally mandated sanctions on Russia, issuing an executive order on Friday night that suspends measures due to take effect within two days, as his public rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky deepens.
A law built to squeeze Moscow
The order waives the bulk of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, legislation Trump signed into law in September after it passed both chambers of Congress in a rare show of bipartisan agreement. Named for the late South Carolina senator who championed it, the law gave Trump broad authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top buyers of Russian oil and gas — chiefly China and India — and to sanction senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, major financial institutions and the "shadow fleet" of tankers Moscow uses to move embargoed energy exports. Under the statute, Trump had until October 18 to either enforce the sanctions or formally waive them; his order states that suspending them serves the "national interest."
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev welcomed the move on social media, calling the suspension "an important and truly historic moment" and arguing the sanctions would have inflicted "serious damage" primarily on the United States and global markets. The reaction in Washington was sharply different. Virginia Congressman Don Beyer, a Democrat, wrote on X that the move amounted to "Trump's latest surrender to Putin," adding that it "again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression."
Diesel, Starlink and a fraying alliance
The waiver follows a week of escalating friction between Washington and Kyiv. Trump announced on October 10 that the US had agreed to import Russian diesel — an initial 300,000 metric tons immediately, another 500,000 tons in November and a million tons shortly after — in an effort to bring down US energy prices ahead of next month's midterm elections. A dozen senators, including six Republicans, wrote to Trump this week urging him to rescind the diesel arrangement and instead enforce the sanctions law. Zelensky, meeting European leaders in Brussels on Friday, said the diesel deal meant cash would "start flowing back into Russia," and separately told reporters it was good to be among "real leaders" after Trump said Zelensky was "more difficult to deal with" than Putin himself.
Tensions have also been fueled by a dispute over energy-infrastructure strikes. Trump said last weekend that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an "energy ceasefire" sparing each other's power facilities; after three days that included fresh Russian attacks, Kyiv resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Trump branded a "disgrace." Zelensky responded that he was "only standing up for Ukraine's interests." Compounding Kyiv's unease, Ukraine says a sudden cap on how fast drones can fly while staying connected to the military Starlink network has disrupted battlefield missions over the past week, a slowdown that coincided with deadly Russian strikes its government says arrived without warning. Zelensky said Friday that Starlink speeds still had not been fully restored; the Trump administration has denied deliberately throttling the network or withholding intelligence on incoming Russian missiles.
The sanctions law has also become a flashpoint in South Carolina's Senate race, where Darline Graham — Lindsey Graham's sister, appointed to finish his term and now running to hold the seat — has made the legislation a campaign centerpiece. In a debate this week with Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, she defended the law while acknowledging the waiver was within Trump's authority.
"It gives the president tools that he can use, if he so chooses, to end the war through economic sanctions. So that's up to him as to whether or not he wants to use it, or whether he wants to use something else, but I think the purpose of it is to bring down the gas prices and ultimately end the war. And when the war ends, gas prices will fall."
Darline Graham, US Senate candidate, South Carolina
As the BBC reported, the waiver is likely to draw further anger from Kyiv, where Zelensky has long argued that tight sanctions are essential to limiting the funds available to Russia's war effort. With the diesel deal already straining relations with European allies and members of Trump's own party, the administration now faces pressure from both sides of the aisle over how — or whether — it intends to use the leverage Congress handed it.
