The US president’s decree comes two days before the sanctions deadline and a week after the diesel deal with Putin.
Published on October 17, 2026
US President Donald Trump suspended a broad set of sanctions against Russia that he signed into law last month, telling Congress the pause was in the national interest.
Trump signed an executive order Friday, two days before the legislative deadline that would put the sanctions into effect.
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The law – named after Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator who died suddenly in July after returning from Ukraine – was passed by a large majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bipartisan legislation was authored by Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
He seeks to starve Moscow of money for its war against Ukraine by sanctioning Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers carrying its energy exports.
He also ordered Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the five largest importers of Russian oil or gas, with the exception of countries that import less than 15% of Russian natural gas exports and take steps to reduce them.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, said on social media that Trump’s decision was “an important and truly historic moment.”
“Economic dialogue and peacemaking efforts between the United States and Russia will continue,” he added.
Diesel agreement and reviews
The decision to suspend sanctions came a week after Trump said the United States had signed a deal to buy diesel from Russia in an attempt to lower global fuel prices.
Republicans and Democrats criticized the deal, saying it would help Russia’s war effort without affecting fuel prices.
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer said he and other politicians had “warned” that Trump might do this, referring to Trump’s deal with Moscow.
Beyer called on Congress to “fix this flawed law to prevent Trump from capitulating to Putin and ensure he truly supports Ukraine.”
Recently, Trump has also increasingly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his failure to reach an agreement with Russia.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on foreign policy and interparliamentary cooperation, linked Trump’s latest moves, which put Ukraine at a disadvantage, to the US midterm elections next month and predicted an improvement in relations after the vote.
“President Trump is a difficult partner, but we depend on the United States and we must have a constructive and respectful relationship even with Trump, as difficult as that may be,” he said.
“I think that after the midterm elections the situation will improve, emotions will calm down and we will be able to resume a constructive dialogue with President Trump,” Merezhko added.
Polls suggest Trump’s Republican Party will struggle to maintain its congressional majority in the Nov. 3 election as voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and blame him for rising prices.
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