Ukraine is interested in seeing the US Congress pass the sanctions bill proposed by Senator Lindsey Graham, although the chances of its adoption in the near future remain difficult to assess, Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy Vladyslav Vlasiuk said at a briefing.
“The good news is that all members of Congress support Ukraine. The bad news is that there are different views on how this support should be provided, and they do not always mean a willingness to support this sanctions bill right now,” Vlasiuk said.
According to him, some provisions of the bill have raised concerns, prompting some lawmakers to seek revisions aimed at strengthening sanctions and/or tariff pressure on Russia.
“Our position is simpler and more straightforward. We are the Ukrainian people, and we need the support of the American people. We believe that it is the US Congress that can provide this support to the Ukrainian people. Of course, we want to see the law adopted now, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasised this,” Vlasiuk said.
He added that there is a possibility that the House of Representatives could pass the initiative as early as next week, although it is currently difficult to assess how likely that scenario is.
“Is there a scenario in which this bill could be passed by the lower chamber next week? Yes. But is there a strong chance of that happening? It is objectively difficult to say at this point,” he said.
Vlasiuk added that Ukraine’s primary task was to communicate its position on the need to increase pressure on Russia.
He also said that representatives of Ukraine’s partner countries discussed sanctions against the Russian energy sector, foreign components used in Russian weapons, Ukraine’s special anti-ballistic operation and financial restrictions during the second Kyiv Sanctions Forum.
“We are holding The Kyiv Sanctions Forum for the second time. It is primarily a working event attended by sanctions coordinators from countries belonging to the sanctions coalition, who discuss where we currently stand in terms of sanctions pressure on Russia and how we can strengthen it,” Vlasiuk said.
Topics discussed at the forum included energy and approaches to imposing sanctions on Russia in the context of volatility in global oil markets, foreign components found in Russian weapons, Ukraine’s special anti-ballistic operation, and financial sanctions, including an assessment of which measures are proving more or less effective.
Representatives of several Ukrainian intelligence and security agencies that actively cooperate with the authorities on sanctions policy also attended the event.
“The forum allows us to exchange views, hear first-hand assessments of the results of sanctions and learn things that we might otherwise not even be aware of. We discussed important details and the next steps,” Vlasiuk said.
