Graham Wants to ‘Crush’ Russian Oil Customers: ‘Putin Could Give A Damn’

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina during an appearance on NBC‘s Meet The Press urged the U.S. to target nations who buy Russian oil, even those with whom the U.S. has strong ties, such as India.

“The one thing I can tell you: Putin could give a damn about sanctions,” Graham told NBC host Kristen Welker. “He evades them. He could give a damn about how many Russians die.”

“The one thing that he can’t tolerate and live with, if we go after his customers,” Graham said. “The whole goal is to crush his customers, India, and China, and Brazil.”

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign repeatedly pledged to quickly end the conflict in Ukraine once he got into office, and he made good faith efforts to immediately act on his word and tried to wrangle a deal between Moscow and Kyiv.

However, Trump quickly discovered that the situation would prove more complicated, and that he would have to contend with two leaders deeply entrenched in their positions on what constituted victory in the now-three year old conflict.

Trump by April started to publicly question whether Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom the president often touted a close working relationship, was “just tapping me along” and dragging out the conflict while pretending to seek a peace deal.

This culminated in his statements in May, in which Trump said he was “not happy with what Putin is doing,” and he declared, “I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.”

What To Know

The U.S. has considered a number of novel approaches to the Ukraine conflict to deter Putin and finally end the fighting, including a high-profile minerals deal with Ukraine that Trump officials argued would create economic ties and protection for the embattled former Soviet state.

The next approach has been to target the major buyers of Russian oil, which includes India – a country with which the U.S. has worked to develop closer ties, especially as it continues to grow at an incredible rate that has seen it overtake the United Kingdom and Japan in GDP.

Trump last week wrote on Truth Social that India is “not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil,” but then selling it on for “big profits” and “don’t really care how many people in Ukraine are being killed.”

“Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA,” Trump threatened.

Graham did not hold back when Welker questioned the merit in going after would-be partners such as India, saying that it was the only way to really hurt Putin and force him to the negotiating table.

“He put a 50 percent tariff on India for their buying Russian oil. He talked to me a lot about China,” Graham said. “He talked to me about two other countries that buy Russian oil, so he’s doing it through executive action, and I’m okay with that.”

“The whole goal is to crush his customers, India, and China, and Brazil,” Graham said in response to a later question. “That if you keep buying Putin’s oil and prop up his war machine, you will be denied access to our economy. This is a new strategy. Trump is all in, in terms of going after Putin’s customers if we can’t end this well. Without oil and gas revenue, Russia collapses.”

Graham also revealed that the U.S. is listening to European allies ahead of a much-publicized meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska this week, saying: “I think everybody knows that how this war ends can be a good thing or a bad thing.”

“If it ends in a way that looks like that Putin’s overly rewarded, there goes Taiwan,” Graham said. “You can’t end a war without talking. I do hope that Zelensky can be part of the process. I’ll leave that up to the White House.”

That end may include “some land swaps,” according to Graham, but he did not elaborate on the extent or content of those swaps, but stressed it would be “only after you have security guarantees to Ukraine to prevent Russia from doing this again.”

What People Are Saying

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton wrote on X: “Trump’s leniency on the Chinese, and heavy-handed tariffs on India, jeopardize decades of American efforts to bring India away from Russia and China.”

In another post, he wrote: “Looks like Putin’s got his old magic back with Trump. His disappointment and outrage with Putin are gone. A Putin-Trump summit in former Russia-America, Alaska, is not quite as bad as Trump inviting the Taliban to Camp David, but certainly reminds one of that.”

Counselor to the President of the United States Peter Navarro last week wrote on X: “India hits us with some of the highest tariffs in the world, sells us goods, and uses our money to buy Russian oil—which funds Russia’s war. Then we foot the bill for Ukraine. President Trump sees this chessboard for what it is.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X: “We welcome President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine. Diplomacy combined with continued pressure on Russia is how we will achieve a just and lasting peace. One that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and the vital security interests of both Ukraine and Europe.”