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Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine’s presidential commissioner for sanctions policy, arrived in Washington in early September to lobby House lawmakers on a bill that already sailed through the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. His mission: convince holdouts that the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 deserves the same warm reception on the other side of the Capitol.
The Senate passed the legislation 86-11 on August 7. That kind of margin would make most bills a formality in the House. This one, though, has a problem that no amount of bipartisan Senate goodwill can easily fix.
What the bill actually does
At its core, the legislation gives the president authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top five countries purchasing Russian oil. Beyond the headline tariff provision, the bill lays out a broad sanctions architecture targeting Russian officials, financial institutions, and entities involved in sanctions evasion. A particular focus is Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, the network of aging tankers and opaque shipping arrangements that Moscow has used to keep selling oil above Western price caps.
The legislation includes both primary sanctions, which hit Russian entities directly, and secondary sanctions, which punish foreign companies and governments that help Russia circumvent restrictions. In practice, secondary sanctions turn the US financial system into an enforcement mechanism: any foreign bank that processes a flagged transaction risks losing access to dollar-denominated markets.
The House problem
A bloc of House Democrats, led by figures including Reps. Gregory Meeks, Richie Neal, and Don Beyer, has raised pointed concerns about the tariff provisions. Their argument is straightforward: the bill effectively hands the president sweeping, unilateral authority to impose massive tariffs on sovereign nations. For Democrats who spent years criticizing the executive branch’s use of tariff powers, voting for this feels like writing a blank check regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.
Why Zelensky sent his sanctions guy
Vlasiuk’s trip to Washington follows President Zelensky’s own direct engagement with Congress. Zelensky met with US senators in late July as part of an advocacy push for the bill and attended the procedural vote that set up the Senate’s final passage. He also participated in activities honoring the late Senator Graham, underscoring the personal and political weight Ukraine’s leadership has placed on this particular piece of legislation.
The stakes beyond Washington
The Graham Act’s secondary sanctions provisions are designed to make the cost of facilitating Russian oil sales prohibitively high for intermediaries in places like the UAE, Turkey, and India. Countries that currently buy discounted Russian crude would face a stark choice: keep purchasing from Moscow or maintain access to US markets.
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