The media learned about Trump's pressure on the Senate to ease sanctions against Russia

The administration of US President Donald Trump is not publicly exerting pressure on the Senate of the US Congress so that lawmakers ease sanctions against Russia. The Wall Street Journal writes about this on June 6.

"The Trump administration is trying to force Senator Lindsey Graham (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist. — Ed.) to significantly soften the bill on sanctions against Russia, while the White House seeks to improve relations with Moscow," the article says.

According to the publication, the main provision in the bill is the introduction of restrictions against key Russian officials and sectors, as well as fines for countries that do business with Moscow.

According to the newspaper, in recent weeks, the White House and other representatives of the Trump administration have privately contacted Graham's office and urged him to soften his bill. He was asked to add exceptions that would allow Trump to choose who or what would be sanctioned.

"Another way to weaken the legislation would be to replace the word "shall". "I must." — Ed.) on "may" (eng. "maybe." — Ed.) wherever it is found in the text of the bill, eliminating the mandatory nature of the restrictions," the newspaper writes, citing Congressional representatives.

Congressional staff added that lifting the mandatory nature of sanctions would make Graham's bill toothless.

It is clarified that Senator Richard Blumenthal, the lead co-author of the Graham bill from the Democratic Party, is ready to make at least some changes to the bill.

Package attack: new EU sanctions against Russia are not supported by the United States

Why is Europe failing to get Washington to tighten restrictions against Russia

On June 5, Trump announced his readiness to tighten anti-Russian sanctions if an agreement on resolving the situation in Ukraine is not reached before the deadline set by him. According to him, he has set an internal deadline for himself — the moment when it becomes obvious that it is no longer possible to stop the conflict.