US senators have unveiled a new version of the Russia sanctions bill, diluting some of the toughest provisions of the original.
The new version aims at reducing the maximum tariff threat on major buyers of Russian energy from 500 per cent to a maximum of 100 per cent.
It allows an exception for nations importing less than 15 per cent of Russia’s natural gas exports and are making efforts to reduce those.
The bipartisan bill first introduced by late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.
China, India, Slovakia, Hungary, and Azerbaijan are the top five purchasers of Russian crude, while China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium are the top importers of Russian natural gas.
These sanctions would increase economic pressure on the Russian government to end its four-year-long invasion of Ukraine, the lawmakers feel.
The updated version also allows an exception for countries that import less than 15 per cent of Russia’s natural gas exports and are taking significant steps to reduce those imports, which could exempt Japan, France, Hungary, and Belgium, according to a global newswire.
The measure also imposes sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers that do not depend on Western maritime services, on Russian financial institutions and on Russia’s largest state-owned energy projects.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
