US President Donald Trump has used his presidential authority to block numerous sanctions on Russia that were recently passed by the US Congress in an effort to punish the country for its war on Ukraine.
In an executive order on Friday night, Trump said that it is in the US “national interests” to withhold some of the sanctions. Trump signed the sanctions bill into law in September, and it was due to take effect on Sunday.
It comes days after Trump said the US would import Russian diesel in an effort to bring down US energy prices before the midterm elections in November, which will decide which party controls Congress.
The plan shocked lawmakers, and has triggered a bipartisan backlash.
The US sanctions law is named for the late Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who was one of Ukraine’s staunchest defenders in Washington before his death on 11 July.
The law took aim at Russian’s economy, and gave Trump broad powers to levy tariffs of up to 100% on the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas – most significantly China and India.
Additionally, the law includes sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior figures within the Russian government as well as banks and other financial institutions and Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers used to circumvent existing sanctions.
On Thursday, a bipartisan group of 20 US lawmakers issued a letter calling on Trump to respect the new law, which is due to take effect on 18 October.
The lawmakers thanked Trump for signing the sanctions bill, and urged his “full and faithful implementation” of the law.
The lawmakers said it would be “decisive in forcing Putin to take peace talks seriously” and called on the Trump administration “to apply the Graham law’s sanctions to their fullest extent and without delay”.
Last week, Trump announced that he had held a phone call with Putin, and had agreed to purchase diesel from Moscow.
US allies criticised the move, anxious that it could help Russia in its war effort.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the deal a gift to Putin that amounts to “an investment in a war that must be ended”.
