U.S. senators threaten Russia with crushing tariffs

U.S. senators renewed calls for Congress to pass sanctions on Russia after Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks showed little progress, but no votes were scheduled on bills introduced six weeks ago aimed at pressuring Moscow to negotiate seriously.

That is according to Reuters, CE Report quotes Ukrinform.

"Putin will continue stonewalling and slow-walking ceasefire efforts till his economy is hit hard -- isolating it on a financial island," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a statement urging a vote on sanctions legislation.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who was in Turkey for a NATO foreign ministers meeting this week, called for the bill's passage, criticizing Putin's decision not to attend the talks with Ukraine.

"When it comes to Russia's games, enough is enough," Graham said in a statement.

Blumenthal and Graham introduced a bill on April 1 that is intended to make it more difficult for Russia to fund its war by adding provisions like a 500% tariff on imports to the U.S. from countries that buy Russian energy.

The Senate bill now has at least 73 co-sponsors in the 100-member chamber, although leaders have not indicated when it might be brought up for a vote. A similar measure introduced the same day in the House of Representatives has 28 co-sponsors, also from both parties.

A broad bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced an initiative to introduce legislation imposing both primary and secondary sanctions on Russia and on all entities assisting its aggression against Ukraine.

On May 16, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held a meeting in Istanbul.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry stated that the Russian side had put forward demands that were unacceptable to Kyiv.