Von der Leyen welcomes US senators’ bid to pile sanctions pressure on Putin

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said she was pleased with two key U.S. senators’ plan to ramp up pressure on Russia with new sanctions.

On Monday morning, von der Leyen met Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham in Berlin to discuss EU-U.S. coordination on sanctions against Russia. 

The EU is currently preparing its 18th package of “hard-hitting” sanctions, according to von der Leyen, which aim to target Russia’s energy and banking sectors as the Kremlin's war on Ukraine grinds on. 

Graham — a close ally of Donald Trump who occasionally finds himself at odds with the U.S. president — is pushing for a bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate that would impose steep tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy resources. The bill, jointly authored with Democrat Richard Blumenthal in April, has garnered 60 co-sponsors so far, and is expected to “start moving” this week, Graham said last Friday.

“Pressure works, as the Kremlin understands nothing else,” von der Leyen said in a statement. “These steps, taken together with U.S. measures, would sharply increase the joint impact of our sanctions.” 

“It’s time for the world to act decisively against Russia’s aggression by holding China and others accountable for buying cheap Russian oil that props up Putin’s war machine,” Graham, a veteran foreign policy hawk, wrote on X on Sunday. 

Ahead of the Kyiv-Moscow negotiations in Istanbul on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Trump to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if Moscow stalls peace talks.   

Von der Leyen and Graham discussed further pressure on Russia in connection with its abduction of more than 20,000 Ukrainian children.

They also agreed that “a negotiated solution [to the U.S.-EU tariff dispute] … would be the best scenario,” according to the press release. 

Graham will meet German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul to discuss sanctions on Russia later Monday.  

A spokesperson for the German foreign office said: "In our view, lowering the oil price cap in conjunction with effective enforcement is conceivable. This could be combined with further measures against the Russian shadow fleet and supporters of sanctions evasion from third countries."

This story has been updated.

Nette Nöstlinger contributed to this report.