H.R. 2548 — Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the "Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025" and sets forth the table of contents.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that (1) if the Government of the Russian Federation refuses good faith negotiations for lasting peace with Ukraine, it should be subject to maximum sanctions allowed under U.S. law; and (2) to deter future Russian military invasion or acts undermining Ukrainian sovereignty after a negotiated peace, U.S. policy should provide sustainable security assistance to Ukraine for credible defensive and deterrent capability.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) "account," "correspondent account," and "payable-through account" (as defined in 31 U.S.C. 5318A); (2) "Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" (enumerating nine specified branches, the General Staff, Main Directorate, and successors or proxies); (3) "covered determination" (a determination by the President as described in section 4); (4) "critical infrastructure" with respect to Ukraine (systems and assets vital to public health or safety, economic security, or national security, including assets in 19 specified sectors such as energy, financial services, and transportation systems); (5) "financial institution" (as specified in 31 U.S.C. 5312(a)(2)); (6) "foreign person" (an individual or entity that is not a U.S. person); (7) "knowingly" and "knows" (actual knowledge or should have known); (8) "military invasion" (including ground or air assaults, missile attacks, cyber attacks, and attacks on controlled territories); and (9) "United States person" (U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or entities organized under U.S. law).

This section requires the President to determine, not later than 15 days after enactment of this Act and every 90 days thereafter, whether any of the following actors has engaged, is engaging, or plans to engage in specified acts concerning Ukraine: (1) the Government of the Russian Federation; (2) any proxy of that government; (3) any individual or entity controlled by or acting at the direction of that government; or (4) any person described in §5 or §6. The specified acts include (1) refusing to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine; (2) violating any negotiated peace agreement; (3) initiating another military invasion of Ukraine; or (4) overthrowing, dismantling, or seeking to subvert the Government of Ukraine.

This section requires the President, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination and every 90 days thereafter, to (1) impose blocking sanctions and visa restrictions on persons described in subsection (b), and (2) prohibit any U.S. person from engaging in transactions with such persons. The persons subject to sanctions include (1) specified senior officials of the Russian Federation government, such as the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, chiefs of military branches and districts, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Transport, Finance, Industry and Trade, Energy, and Agriculture, and directors of key intelligence and security services; (2) foreign persons who knowingly supply defense articles to or transact with Russian Armed Forces, undermine Ukraine's military readiness, government, infrastructure, cybersecurity, democratic processes, or commit human rights abuses against Ukrainians, operate in designated Russian economic sectors (i.e., energy, commodities, telecommunications, banking, industrial, transportation, manufacturing), are designated oligarchs, or engage in specified corruption, assassinations, destabilizing activities, or sanctions evasion; and (3) persons receiving property transfers from sanctioned individuals to evade sanctions. The sanctions consist of (1) blocking all property and interests in property in the United States or under U.S. person control pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (without requiring a national emergency declaration), and (2) rendering affected aliens ineligible for U.S. visas, admission, parole, or immigration benefits, with immediate revocation of existing visas.

This section requires the Secretary of the Treasury, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination and every 90 days thereafter, to (1) impose blocking sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—without requiring a national emergency declaration—and correspondent or payable-through account restrictions on the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, other financial institutions owned wholly or partly by the Russian government, their subsidiaries and successors, and any financial institution transacting with them; (2) impose sanctions described in section 5(c) on directors, officers, officials, and shareholders with an interest in those institutions; and (3) prohibit any U.S. person from engaging in transactions with those institutions. (Thus, these measures block property and interests in property within U.S. jurisdiction or control of U.S. persons and sever those institutions' access to the U.S. financial system.)

This section requires the Secretary of the Treasury, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination and every 90 days thereafter, to impose blocking sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA; 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) on any entity in which the Government of the Russian Federation has an ownership interest or that is otherwise affiliated with such government. The President must block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property of such entities that are in the United States, come within the United States, or are in the possession or control of a U.S. person, without the requirement to declare a national emergency under IEEPA section 202 (50 U.S.C. 1701).

This section prohibits depository institutions (as defined in section 19(b)(1)(A) of the Federal Reserve Act) and brokers or dealers registered with the SEC, not later than 15 days after a covered determination, from processing transfers of funds to or from the Russian Federation or for the direct or indirect benefit of officials of the Government of the Russian Federation. An exception applies if the transfer arises from, and is ordinarily incident and necessary to give effect to, a transaction authorized by a specific or general license and does not involve debiting or crediting an account affiliated with the Russian Federation or held by a Russian person (defined as a citizen or national of the Russian Federation or an entity organized under its laws or otherwise subject to its jurisdiction).

This section directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), not later than 15 days after a covered determination is made, to prohibit securities of specified Russian government-affiliated issuers from being traded on a national securities exchange (i.e., an exchange registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). Specified issuers include (1) any official of or individual affiliated with the Government of the Russian Federation or (2) any entity in which the Russian government has an ownership interest or that is otherwise affiliated with the Russian government (with "issuer" and "security" having the meanings given in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).

This section directs the Secretary of the Treasury, not later than 15 days after a covered determination, to prohibit any United States financial institution from making a monetary investment in or to (1) an entity owned or controlled by the Government of the Russian Federation or (2) the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It defines United States financial institution as any financial institution that is a United States person, including an investment company, private equity company, venture capital company, or hedge fund that is a United States person.

This section prohibits—(1) the export, reexport, or in-country transfer to Russia of any U.S.-produced energy or energy product, effective not later than 15 days after a covered determination, as implemented by the Secretary of Commerce under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.); and (2) investments by U.S. persons in Russia's energy sector, effective on and after the date of a covered determination. The section further directs the President to impose sanctions described in section 5(c) on foreign persons who knowingly facilitate the maintenance or expansion of Russian production of oil, uranium, natural gas, petroleum, petroleum products, or petrochemical products for use by persons sanctioned under sections 5 or 6, and to prohibit U.S. persons from transacting with such foreign persons.

This section requires the President, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination and every 90 days thereafter, to impose sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on (1) any global financial communications services provider (i.e., international financial messaging systems such as SWIFT) that does not terminate financial messaging services to financial institutions sanctioned under section 6 or other provisions of this Act, and (2) the provider's directors, officers, and shareholders with an interest in the provider. (Thus, such providers must disconnect sanctioned institutions from global payment messaging networks or face sanctions themselves.)

This section directs the President, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination, to prohibit importation of uranium from (1) the Russian Federation, including Rosatom State Corporation or any subsidiary or successor entity, and (2) any country with uranium originally sourced from the Russian Federation, Rosatom, or such entities. It further requires the President, not later than 15 days after such determination and every 90 days thereafter, to impose sanctions described in section 5(c) on (1) directors, officers, and shareholders of Rosatom or subsidiaries or successors, and (2) any foreign government or foreign person that has knowingly sold, supplied, transferred, or purchased such uranium.

This section requires the President, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination, to impose duties of at least 500% ad valorem on all goods and services—including oil, natural gas, petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products—imported from the Russian Federation, notwithstanding any other provision of law. It further directs the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and other relevant agency heads, to recommend duties exceeding 500% ad valorem for specified such goods and services and specifies that the new duties are in addition to any applicable antidumping or countervailing duties.

This section requires the President, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination and every 90 days thereafter, to impose all sanctions described in section 235 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA; 22 U.S.C. 9529)—i.e., (1) denial of Export-Import Bank approval for exports to sanctioned persons, (2) U.S. government export licensing prohibitions, (3) prohibitions on loans exceeding $10 million in any 12-month period from U.S. financial institutions, (4) U.S. opposition to loans benefiting sanctioned persons from international financial institutions, and (5) for sanctioned financial institutions, prohibitions on serving as primary dealers in U.S. government debt or as repositories of U.S. government funds—to the extent not already applicable with respect to (1) the Russian Federation and (2) any person described in section 5 or 6.

This section directs the President, not later than 15 days after determining that a country knowingly sells, supplies, transfers, or purchases Russian-origin oil, uranium, natural gas, petroleum products, or petrochemical products—and every 90 days thereafter—to impose duties of at least 500% ad valorem on all goods and services imported from that country, in addition to any antidumping or countervailing duties. The section authorizes the President to waive such duties one time for up to 180 days with respect to a country, good, or service if in the national security interests of the United States but prohibits waivers for (1) state sponsors of terrorism, as determined for purposes of 22 U.S.C. 2371 or related provisions, or (2) countries specified in 10 U.S.C. 4872(f)(2).

This section establishes exceptions to the Act's prohibitions or sanctions for (1) the provision of humanitarian assistance (including medical assistance) to people of the Russian Federation; (2) activities subject to the reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 or any authorized intelligence activities of the United States; and (3) the admission of an alien if necessary to comply with U.S. obligations under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement (signed June 26, 1947), the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (done April 24, 1963), or other international agreements.

This section authorizes the President to exercise all authorities under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—including investigating, blocking, regulating, or prohibiting foreign exchange transactions, credit transfers, currency imports or exports, and property interests of foreign countries or nationals, as well as confiscating certain foreign property during U.S. hostilities—to implement this Act. It applies the civil penalties (up to greater of $250,000 or twice the transaction amount) and criminal penalties (fines up to $1 million and imprisonment up to 20 years) of IEEPA section 206 to persons who violate, attempt to violate, conspire to violate, or cause a violation of this Act or any regulation, license, or order issued pursuant thereto.

This section authorizes the President to terminate sanctions, prohibitions, restrictions, duties, and penalties under this Act upon certifying to Congress that (1) all actors described in section 4(a) have verifiably ceased acts described in section 4(b), and (2) the Government of the Russian Federation has entered a peace agreement with Ukraine. The section requires the President to immediately reimpose all previously terminated measures—plus new ones—if such an actor resumes a described act.