War in Ukraine: The USA Votes for New Sanctions Against Russia

The Senate tightens the screws. Adopted by 86 votes to 11 on Friday, the sanctions law against Russia bears the name of Senator Lindsey Graham, who died in early July after years of advocating for it. It targets the phantom Russian fleet and buyers of Moscow oil. A more discreet article in the text directly addresses cryptocurrencies used to evade the embargo.
Key points of this article:

• The U.S. Senate has passed a sanctions law against Russia, specifically targeting the phantom Russian fleet and cryptocurrencies used to bypass the embargo.
• The European Union had already taken similar measures in July, demonstrating increasing international pressure on crypto transactions involving Russia.
  The text of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 targets, in its Section 102, "any deceptive or structured transaction intended to evade U.S. sanctions, including through the use of currencies or digital assets."
  Indeed, oil shipments carried by the phantom fleet, these aging tankers registered under flags of convenience to obscure their traceability, are increasingly being paid for through opaque methods, including stablecoins.
  The rest of the text remains massive. Secondary sanctions on Russian banks and oligarchs, tariffs that could rise to 100% on the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas, with China and India leading the way. A whole section, however, explicitly targets decentralized finance as a means of evasion rather than merely a blind spot in the law for the first time.
  Washington is not breaking new ground. In July, the European Union adopted its 21st sanctions package, with 14 crypto platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, and elsewhere banned from transactions, for a network estimated at $120 billion by CoinDesk. Brussels had already looked into the issue months ago when it considered outright banning crypto transactions with Russia.
  The Moscow-Tehran duo has never hidden its intentions. The two capitals had at one time discussed a common stablecoin backed by gold to weaken the dollar, a project that has stalled due to the lack of a stabilized legal framework in Russia. In the meantime, Russia and Iran are increasingly relying on existing stablecoins to continue trading despite the embargo.
  A law that still needs to pass the House of Representatives
  The text is not yet law. The House of Representatives, on recess until September, still needs to review it, and there is no guarantee of a quick timeline once they return. Graham had locked in an agreement with the White House before his death, which significantly facilitated its passage in the Senate.
  For crypto platforms dealing with Russian or Iranian counterparts, even indirectly, the signal is unambiguous. Between the U.S. text and the European package, the leeway to dress a sanctioned transaction as a simple stablecoin movement is shrinking month by month. The U.S. Treasury had already paved the way in July by freezing $131 million linked to Iran via Tether, a signal that today finds a much broader legislative extension.

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