SECURITY: Thune Says Senate "Stands Ready To Act" With New Russia Sanctions

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters that “the Senate stands ready to act,” with new sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate in good faith, according to Andrew Desiderio at Punchbowl News. 

• Desiderio notes that Thune pitched the sanctions bill, introduced by Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Richard Rosenthal (D-CT), "amid pressure from Republicans", but "didn’t put a timetable on it".
• Thune said: "If Russia's not willing to engage in serious diplomacy, the Senate will work with the Trump administration to consider additional sanctions to force Putin to start negotiating."
• The Graham-Rosenthal bill, known as the 'Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025", would impose new penalties on Russia and apply 500% secondary tariffs on imports from countries that buy Russian oil, petroleum products, natural gas, or uranium.
• Graham and Rosenthal have noted there is a "veto-proof majority" in the Senate ready to back the measure if it reaches the floor. Ultimately, the decision is likely to come from discussions between Thune and President Donald Trump, who currently appears more inclined to distance Washington from efforts to resolve the war than seek harsher sanctions.
• Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) wrote in a op-ed for Responsible Statecraft opposing the sanction proposal: "If this bill were to pass, it would cause an economic calamity on a scale never before seen in our country," making Moscow "a permanent enemy of the United States... should they refuse to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine."