Senate Democrats blast Trump for failing to use sanctions to pressure Russia

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump for failing to ramp up sanctions to pressure Russia to end its four-year war in Ukraine, noting the European Union had designated nearly 900 targets in 2025 compared to just two for the U.S.

In an analysis released on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Democratic staff on the Republican-led panel identified hundreds of potential targets they said Trump could have imposed sanctions on during his first year in office. The war has killed hundreds of thousands and devastated swathes of Ukraine, Russia’s neighbor to the west.

Democratic President Joe Biden, whose term ended in January 2025, rolled out at least 32 sanctions packages in each of the first three years of the war, they said, although critics say enforcement lagged. By comparison, Trump announced just one package of major sanctions – targeting Russian oil majors Lukoil and Rosneft – despite increased Russian attacks that have targeted Ukrainian civilians and decimated its power grid.

Trump has pressed Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire deal that could entail painful concessions of land captured by Russian forces, but talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to produce a breakthrough thus far. The White House was not immediately available for comment.

PROPOSED BILL LANGUISHES

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, on Tuesday underscored the importance of passing a bipartisan bill in Congress that would impose sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, gas and uranium.

The bill has the support of 85 of 100 senators, but Republican leaders have not brought the bill up for a vote because of resistance from Trump.

“It should be either passed now, or we will just have to recognize that there’s no will to do it,” she told reporters.

The Democratic report noted that Russia remains enormously dependent on imports of key technologies required for the war, creating opportunities for sanctions.

“It is unclear why any president serious about negotiating the best peace possible would instead let our sanctions leverage wither,” the minority staff said. “Without follow-up actions, evaders are brazenly profiting without any U.S. pushback, and the Kremlin knows it.”

Washington did announce some fresh cyber-related sanctions on individuals and entities, including some based in Russia, but they were unrelated to the war in Ukraine.

The Treasury Department defended its approach, noting the sanctions against Lukoil and Rosneft had helped push Russian oil prices lower, limiting revenues available to fund the war.

“Unlike Biden’s never-ending sanctions approach, which did nothing to stop the war, the sanctions imposed on Rosneft and Lukoil contributed to a sharp decline in Russian oil prices, cost the regime billions of dollars, and made it more difficult for the Kremlin to manufacture military equipment,” a Treasury spokesman said. Trump would continue to pursue every possible option to “stop the senseless killing,” he added.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued during a congressional hearing last month that the Rosneft and Lukoil sanctions had helped to bring Russia to the negotiating table.

Further sanctions, he said, would depend on talks aimed at ending the war. Bessent said he would consider new sanctions against Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, a step Trump has not taken since returning to office in January 2025.

The report listed many possible sanction targets that the Trump administration had skipped, including more than 130 companies identified in China and Hong Kong as “advertising immediate sales of restricted computer chips to Russia.”

It also listed companies around the world sanctioned by the European Union, Britain and others for helping Russia’s military, as well as Central Asian banks designated by the EU last year.

It said the Trump administration failed to target companies involved with Russia’s shadow fleet, and refrained from sanctioning officials and individuals responsible for human rights abuses, including the deportation of Ukrainian children.