S. 1241 — Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025

This section designates 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 Russian Federation refuses good-faith negotiations for lasting peace with Ukraine, it should face maximum sanctions allowed under U.S. law; and (2) U.S. policy should provide sustainable security assistance to Ukraine to deter future invasions or threats to its sovereignty following a negotiated peace.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) account, correspondent account, and payable-through account, as given in 31 U.S.C. 5318A; (2) admission, admitted, and alien, as given in the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101); (3) Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (listing nine specific branches, directorates, and successors or proxies); (4) covered determination, meaning a determination by the President as described in section 4 of the Act; (5) critical infrastructure with respect to Ukraine (i.e., vital systems and assets across 19 sectors, including energy, financial services, healthcare, and transportation systems, whose destruction would have catastrophic effects); (6) financial institution, as specified in 31 U.S.C. 5312(a)(2); (7) foreign person, meaning an individual or entity that is not a United States person; (8) knowingly or knows, meaning a person had actual knowledge or should have known; (9) military invasion (including ground operations, aerial bombardments, missile attacks, cyber attacks, and related actions); and (10) United States person (i.e., U.S. citizens, permanent resident aliens, or entities organized under U.S. law).

This section requires the President, not later than 15 days after enactment and every 90 days thereafter, to determine whether any of the following has engaged, is engaging, or is planning to engage in specified acts concerning Ukraine: (1) the Government of the Russian Federation; (2) any proxy thereof; (3) any individual or entity controlled by or acting at the direction of that government; or (4) any person described in section 5 or 6. The specified acts are (1) refusing to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine; (2) violating any such 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 the sanctions described in subsection (c) on the persons described in subsection (b), and (2) prohibit any U.S. person from engaging in any transaction with such persons. The persons described in subsection (b) include (1) specified senior officials of the Russian government (e.g., the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, military commanders, ministers of key sectors, and directors of intelligence and security services); (2) foreign persons who supply defense articles to or transact with Russian armed forces, undermine Ukraine's military readiness or government, operate in designated Russian economic sectors, qualify as oligarchs, or engage in specified corruption, assassinations, or sanctions evasion; and (3) persons receiving property transfers from sanctioned persons to evade sanctions. The sanctions described in subsection (c) include (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 a national emergency declaration), and (2) rendering affected aliens ineligible for U.S. visas, admission, or parole, with immediate revocation of current visas.

This section directs 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 a national emergency declaration) and correspondent or payable-through account restrictions on the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, other Russian government-owned financial institutions, their subsidiaries or successors, and any financial institutions transacting with them; (2) impose sanctions described in section 5(c) on their directors, officers, officials, and shareholders with an interest in them; and (3) prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with those institutions. (Thus, these measures freeze assets in U.S. jurisdiction or under U.S. person control 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) on any entity in which the Government of the Russian Federation has an ownership interest or that is otherwise affiliated with it. The President must block all 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 for a national emergency declaration under IEEPA. (Thus, these sanctions bypass the standard IEEPA prerequisite of declaring a national emergency pursuant to the National Emergencies Act.)

This section prohibits depository institutions and securities brokers or dealers registered with the SEC, not later than 15 days after a covered determination, from processing transfers of funds (1) to or from the Russian Federation or (2) for the direct or indirect benefit of officials of the Government of the Russian Federation. It authorizes such transfers if they arise from a transaction licensed by a specific or general license and do not involve debiting or crediting an account affiliated with the Russian Federation or held by a Russian person (i.e., a citizen or national of the Russian Federation or an entity organized under its laws or subject to its jurisdiction).

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

This section requires 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 to mean 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, upon a covered determination, (1) the export, reexport, or in-country transfer to Russia of any U.S.-produced energy or energy product, as directed by the Secretary of Commerce within 15 days under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018; and (2) any investment in Russia's energy sector by U.S. persons. It further directs the President to impose sanctions under section 5(c) on foreign persons knowingly facilitating the maintenance or expansion of Russia's production of oil, uranium, natural gas, petroleum, petroleum products, or petrochemicals for entities 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 (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) 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 the international financial system or face secondary sanctions on their leadership.)

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

This section requires the President, not later than 15 days after making a covered determination, to impose duties of at least 500 percent ad valorem on all goods and services—including oil, natural gas, petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products—imported from Russia, notwithstanding any other provision of law. It further directs the U.S. Trade Representative, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce and other relevant agency heads, to recommend goods and services for duties exceeding 500 percent ad valorem. These duties apply in addition to any 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 assistance for exports to sanctioned persons, (2) U.S. government export licensing prohibitions, (3) prohibitions on loans or credits exceeding $10 million in any 12-month period from U.S. financial institutions (unless for human suffering relief), (4) U.S. opposition to loans benefiting sanctioned persons at international financial institutions, and (5) for financial institutions, prohibitions on serving as primary dealers in U.S. government debt or as U.S. government agents—that are 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 making a covered determination and every 90 days thereafter, to impose a duty of not less than 500 percent ad valorem on all goods and services imported from any country that knowingly sells, supplies, transfers, or purchases Russian-origin oil, uranium, natural gas, petroleum products, or petrochemical products. The duties apply in addition to any antidumping or countervailing duties under the Tariff Act of 1930. The President may waive the duties one time for up to 180 days if in the national security interests of the U.S., but may not do so for (1) state sponsors of terrorism as determined under authorities including 22 U.S.C. 2371 (prohibiting U.S. assistance to such countries) or (2) countries specified in 10 U.S.C. 4872(f)(2).

This section provides exceptions to the Act's prohibitions as follows: (1) humanitarian assistance (including medical assistance) to people of the Russian Federation; (2) activities subject to reporting requirements under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or authorized U.S. intelligence activities; and (3) admission of an alien 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 (1) authorizes the President to exercise all authorities under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA; 50 U.S.C. 1702, 1704)—which enable regulation or prohibition of foreign exchange transactions, blocking or confiscation of foreign property subject to U.S. jurisdiction during national emergencies, and related reporting requirements—to implement this Act; and (2) applies the civil penalties (up to $1 million per violation, adjusted for inflation) and criminal penalties (fines up to $1 million and imprisonment up to 20 years) of IEEPA section 206(b) and (c) (50 U.S.C. 1705(b), (c)) to any violation, attempt, conspiracy, or causation of a violation of this Act or related regulations, licenses, or orders.

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