US Senate passes new Russian sanctions legislation

The US Senate has passed a sweeping Russian sanctions legislation championed by late Senator Lindsey Graham that aims to reinforce US support for Ukraine.

The bipartisan legislation was passed overwhelmingly with a vote of 86-11 on Friday to impose sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, other senior political and military leaders, as well as Russia's financial institutions and energy projects.

If approved by the House and signed into law, the measure would allow the US president to impose levies of up to 100% on countries such as India and China that are major consumers of Russian oil and gas.

But it provides exceptions for countries which import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia and Washington is working to reduce those imports.

The package comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to the Capitol Hill following the funeral of Graham who died last month.

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