A group of G.O.P. senators has grown more vocal about urging penalties on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, offering a counterpoint to President Trump’s hands-off stance.
A small but vocal group of Republicans in Congress is pushing to escalate pressure on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, diverging sharply from President Trump’s more conciliatory stance after months of staying mostly quiet and deferring to his hands-off approach.
The shift intensified over the weekend in the wake of Russia’s most aggressive wave of attacks since the war began. But it has been building for weeks as Senate Republicans and Democrats alike have signed on to legislation that would impose sweeping sanctions on Moscow. The bill now has 80 cosponsors, more than enough to override a veto in that chamber.
The same measure in the House has garnered little backing in either party, making a showdown with Mr. Trump on the issue unlikely, at least in the short term. But the movement in the Senate suggests an increasingly hawkish mood on Capitol Hill and a growing frustration with Russia’s intransigence among Republicans, who are ramping up their calls for decisive action.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close ally of Mr. Trump’s, is leading the bipartisan push on the Russia sanctions bill, along with Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut. Last week, speaking from the Senate floor, Mr. Graham appeared to be aiming his remarks directly at the president in a bid to persuade him that any influence he may imagine he has over President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia does not appear to be having much impact.
“Putin, in my view, is playing us all,” Mr. Graham warned. He laid out missed opportunities for diplomacy that he said proved Russia was not serious about peace. “President Trump called for a 30-day cease-fire. Ukraine said yes; Russia said no,” he said. “President Trump urged Zelensky and Putin to go to Istanbul — I was over there — and meet to have direct talks. Zelensky went; Putin didn’t.”
“We’ve given Russia plenty of opportunity to find an honorable and just end to this war,” Mr. Graham continued. “They’re not interested. And they’re not going to change until we up the ante. So we need moral clarity here. Putin is dragging this out.”