A small but vocal group of Republicans in Congress is pressing to escalate pressure on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, diverging sharply from President Trump’s 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. 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 for 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. We need moral clarity here. Putin is dragging this out.”
Mr. Trump has in recent days hinted at a change in posture. After Russia’s latest assault, he told reporters that he was “not happy” with Mr. Putin and was “considering more sanctions.” But it was not clear whether he had changed his broader view that it is time for the United States to wash its hands of involvement in the conflict.
In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has signaled a desire to move beyond the war, musing about a potential economic partnership with Russia after a peace deal. A White House adviser recently told The New York Times that additional sanctions could hinder business opportunities, adding that the president instead wants to focus on maximizing economic opportunities with the Kremlin.
That desire to look past the current state of war stands in stark contrast to the views of many Republicans in Congress, who maintain their party’s longstanding view of Russia as a bitter adversary that deserves to be treated as such.
In a social media post on Monday, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa declared that he had seen enough of Mr. Putin killing innocent civilians and publicly urged Mr. Trump to “take action,” urging him to consider “AT LEAST SANCTIONS.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Grassley wrote on social media that he thought Mr. Trump had been sincere in thinking his friendship with Mr. Putin would bring an end to the war, but that “ITS TIME FOR SANCTIONS STRONG ENUF SO PUTIN KNOWS ‘game over.’ ” And he suggested that Mr. Trump should be at least as harsh in trying to cut off Mr. Putin from the world financial system as he has been in seeking to cut off Harvard University from federal funds.
“Sanctions for Putin like no fed grants for Harvard,” he wrote in his post.
Even before the latest assault, other Republicans have called for a tougher stance against Mr. Putin.
“Obviously, he’s not been serious about the negotiations,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas said last week when discussing the Russian president’s reluctance to engage in peace talks. Mr. Cornyn praised Mr. Trump’s efforts to bring both countries to the table for negotiations, but said the Russian president would first “have to get serious.”
Both senators, like many Republicans on Capitol Hill, have tried to maintain deference to Mr. Trump’s leadership.
In an opinion essay published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday morning, Mr. Graham wrote: “President Trump has asked Vladimir Putin to provide a term sheet outlining the requirements for a cease-fire, bringing the roadblocks to peace to a head. Depending on how Russia responds, we will know which course to take.”
But some in the party believe Russia’s weekend assault was the response — just not the one they were hoping for.
“I think we need to put the hurt on Putin,” Senator Todd Young of Indiana said bluntly when asked about the sanctions package.
At the same time, many Republicans say it is Mr. Trump’s call whether and how to punish Moscow.
“Somehow, some way, somebody has got to put pressure on Putin to come to the table,” Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said last week. But he conceded that Mr. Graham was “not going to be able to do it until you get to a blessing from the president.”
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