'Economic bunker buster against Russia, India and China': US senator warns of bill to corner Putin on Ukraine

American senator Lindsey Graham is pushing for a Senate vote on a sweeping sanctions bill he calls an “economic bunker buster,” targeting Russia and its top trade partners — including China and India — in a bid to force Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

Speaking to NBC News, Graham revealed that over 80 senators have co-sponsored the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill aimed at escalating economic pressure on Moscow for its ongoing war in Ukraine. “Putin is more aggressive, not less,” he said. “It’s time to change tactics.”

The bill proposes tariffs as high as 500% on imports from countries that continue buying Russian oil, gas, and uranium — unless they also provide direct support to Ukraine. While countries like China and India are not named in the bill, they are implicated by their continued energy trade with Russia.

“This is an economic bunker buster,” Graham emphasized. “It’s time to vote on that bill. Give the president a bunker buster tool economically to get Putin to the table.”

To address concerns over diplomatic fallout, the legislation includes a presidential waiver, allowing the White House flexibility in applying the sanctions. Still, administration officials have pushed back against mandatory provisions, urging more discretion to preserve foreign policy leverage.

Graham remained undeterred, insisting the bill’s passage is critical. “Putin has gotten worse, not better,” he said. “We’ve tried soft pressure. It’s not working.”

The bill marks one of the most aggressive U.S. legislative efforts to date to penalize not only Russia, but its key economic enablers. It signals a strategic pivot in Washington — one that moves beyond direct aid to Ukraine toward leveraging U.S. trade policy to isolate Putin’s regime.