The US Senate supported the draft on new "crushing" sanctions against Russia.

The draft on "crushing" sanctions against Russia received the support of 72 senators, which will allow the document to be submitted to the House of Representatives for consideration. This was announced on May 1 by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (listed as a terrorist and extremist by Rosfinmonitoring).

It is specified that sanctions will be imposed if the Russian president does not start negotiations on ending the conflict in Ukraine.

"According to the draft bill, the penalty will include a 500% tariff on imports from countries that buy Russian oil, petroleum products, natural gas or uranium," Bloomberg said.

In addition, it is proposed to introduce additional measures, including a ban for American citizens to purchase Russian sovereign debt.

According to Graham, these measures will allegedly be "devastating" for the Russian economy, and if a peace agreement on Ukraine cannot be reached in the near future, the US Senate will "take decisive measures to deal a strong blow to Russia."

The stage of the concept: The Russian Federation and the United States are negotiating on Ukraine on a bilateral basis

Why is it unlikely to achieve a ceasefire by Easter and when is a meeting between Putin and Trump possible?

On April 27, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US side was not expanding sanctions against Russia in order not to interfere with the peace process on the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, Washington hopes that efforts for a peaceful settlement will work in a diplomatic manner to bring the two sides closer.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 24 that Russia appreciates the mediation services provided by US President Donald Trump and his administration in the negotiation process on the Ukrainian conflict.