Video: Blumenthal Celebrates Senate Passage of Landmark Sanctions Bill to Hold Purchasers of Russian Oil & Gas Accountable

[WASHINGTON, DC] - Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) celebrated Senate passage of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 in an overwhelming bipartisan vote. The legislation, led by Blumenthal and U.S. Senator Darline Graham (R-SC), would hold major purchasers of Russian oil and gas accountable for supporting Russia's war in Ukraine.

Blumenthal spoke on the Senate Floor ahead of the final vote. Video is available here.

"Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine. And Putin is watching from Moscow. I would like to think that Lindsey Graham is watching, too. And I know how proud he would be of his sister today, who has taken his place on the Floor and has been such a profoundly strong and effective advocate for this bill. Today, we say to the people Ukraine: you are not alone. And we say to Vladimir Putin: You will not conquer Ukraine; you will not defeat this free, brave people, who are turning the tide against your blood-thirsty aggression," Blumenthal said.

"I would like to close with some brilliant rhetorical flourish, but I'd rather just recall some of Senator Graham's last words to me. He said, 'This is a big eff-ing deal. We all did good.'"

Last week, Blumenthal and U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-AL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Jim Risch (R-ID) hosted a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and supporters of the legislation at the U.S. Capitol. Photos of the meeting are available here.

Blumenthal and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) first introduced legislation to bring primary and secondary sanctions against Russia and actors supporting Russia's aggression in Ukraine in April 2025, and spent the last year building support for the effort in Congress and the Administration. Lindsey Graham secured an agreement with the White House on the bill just before his death.

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 would impose primary and secondary sanctions against Russia and actors supporting Russia's war in Ukraine. The sanctions target Russian officials, oligarchs, their family members, foreign persons, and Russian banks and financial institutions, as well as the Russian Shadow Fleet.

The legislation allows the President to impose targeted tariffs on imported goods from countries that buy the vast majority of Russian oil or gas, and enable Russian sanctions evasion. The bill limits these tariffs to the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas, and top five countries that aid Russia's energy sanctions evasion.

The bill also includes a provision to prevent a lapse in sanction authority that restricts funding for Iran's energy and weapons sectors.

The text of the bill is available here.

Video of Blumenthal's remarks on the Senate Floor is available here. A full transcript is copied below.

The Presiding Officer: The Senator from Connecticut.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Mr. President, shortly, we will vote on the Russia Sanctions bill, as we have come to call it, and I want to begin by thanking my colleagues for their overwhelming support for this measure, and in particular, to thank Senators Shaheen, Britt, Wicker, Risch, Coons, Whitehouse, Durbin, and of course Senators Schumer and Thune. Their help has been invaluable, as we reach this important moment. Last week, with President Zelenskyy watching from the gallery, this body sent a powerful message to Vladimir Putin, and all who are supporting him with funding for his vicious, blood-thirsty, illegal war against the brave, free people of Ukraine. Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine. And Putin is watching from Moscow. I would like to think that Lindsey Graham is watching, too. And I know how proud he would be of his sister today, who has taken his place on the floor and has been such a profoundly strong and effective advocate for this bill.

Today, we say to the people Ukraine, you are not alone. And we say to Vladmir Putin, you will not conquer Ukraine. You will not defeat this free, brave people, who are turning the tide against your blood-thirsty aggression. Nearly two years ago, Lindsey Graham and I began working on this bill, but really, the journey began with our first trip to Ukraine together some four years ago. Robert Frost once said, when he was asked how he began his poems, he said, a poem begins with a lump in the throat. Our journey toward this bill began with a lump in our throats, and tears in our eyes, when we visited Bucha, not long after the Russians were pushed out of that small town, just kilometers away from President Zelenskyy's bunker, which we also visited on that trip, just weeks after Ukraine succeeded in pushing them out.

We saw the mass grave where Putin's military shot innocent women and children in the back of their heads. We talked to Ukrainian troops who lost limbs, loved ones who lost sons and daughters, fathers and mothers. We talked to children who were kidnapped by Putin, literally abducted and placed in education camps. And on one of those long train rides, we took six or seven trips into Ukraine together, we began thinking about this bill, to impose scorching sledgehammer sanctions and tariffs on Ukraine, to stop the flow of money fueling Putin's war machine. Money that was essential to his slaughterous aggression against Ukraine.

And like one of those trains, the journey to this bill was filled with a lot of bumps, a lot of stops and starts, and through it all what sustained us as much as anything was Senator Graham's overwhelming sense of optimism. His sense of humor. His belief in freedom and democracy. His belief in America. And so, this bill is a tribute to him. We disagreed about many issues, he and I, and I could be on the receiving end of his anger, as well as his praise. But the partnership that we forged, I think, is a lesson, without exaggerating it, to perhaps the people of America that, yes, we can work together and accomplish good things for the world. One of Senator Graham's final acts as a member of this body was to reach an accord with the White House on our behalf and secure the President's support. He died literally the next day. I spoke to him shortly before his death and I know as well as anyone that this chamber, this body will not be the same without him, we miss him and this bill, named in his honor, carries on the work that he believed was so important.

It will impose scorching sanctions on the Russia war machine and the shadow fleet that sustains it. It will prevent critical resources from flowing to the Kremlin's coffers, it will authorize the president to impose duties and penalties on the Russian crude oil and natural gas, punishing the profiteers for buying discounted energy products and pushing them to decrease purchases. It is a powerful deterrent against complicity in Putin's illegal war. And it provides a powerful pressure point in stopping buyers of Russian oil and gas from continuing to provide the essential fuel for that war machine. It will give the administration the tools it needs to punish anyone who aides Russia as they continue to evade United States sanctions and promote stronger, stricter enforcement of those stations. For years, countries have been allowed to permit bad actors to broker deals and support the shadow fleet's movement all around the world. They have become fabulously rich. These companies will be exposed as facilitating evasions of sanctions and it will help us end the war. The goal is peace. We have the power to help end this war, and we cannot stand idly as a young democratic nation desperately fights for survival against a murderous dictator.

We know from history, appeasement is a failed hope, and hope is not a strategy. We cannot appease Putin in the hope that he will abandon his imperialist ambitions because history shows he will not. And his ambition doesn't end with Donbas or Lugansk, it reaches deep into Europe and it threatens our national security and our allies, yes we need our allies, and they have steed up to aid Ukraine in this war. Appeasing Putin is a disservice to the brave men and women of our military who are defending our freedom all around the globe, became it puts them in greater risk if Putin thinks he can move against our NATO allies and then we will be required to put our sons and daughters in harm's way.

For four years, Ukraine has refused to bow to Putin's will. They have beaten back wave after wave after wave of Russian attacks. Our military gave them maybe a few weeks in 2022 to survive Putin's onslaught. They pushed the Russians back in those weeks after the first wave of assaults, and they have continued a brilliant campaign of using new technology that has amazed and awed the world, including our own military, which is learning from Ukraine about the use of drones and other unmanned weapons platforms. Their ingenuity and determination are awe inspiring, even as their stockpiles of interceptors and other air defense run dry. And we must provide the kind of military defense aid, the interceptors, the pack 3's, for the patriot system, for the Thad platform, that are essential to defend the Ukrainian people who are enduring night after night drones, killing civilians, aimed at schools, hospitals, malls, civilian targets. Putin not only abducts children, he kills them in their beds as they sleep with missiles and drones that are aimed purposely at civilian targets to terrorize and intimidate the people of Ukraine.

But they will not yield. And today they continue to stand as beacon of hope and liberty shinning against the darkness. Today we cannot provide all that military aid that they need, but we can take this step, a step to stand with the people of Ukraine and show that their fight is our fight. I would like to close with some brilliant rhetorical flourish, but I'd rather just recall some of Senator Graham's last words to me. He said, this is a BIG effing deal. We all did good. Decorum prevents me from saying what he actually said, but I would like to say, looking across the chamber where he sat that he is with us today and that he will be proud of what we are doing. Thank you Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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