U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs members introduce DROP Act to mandate targeted sanctions on anyone worldwide dealing in Russian oil

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs published details of the bipartisan Decreasing Russia Oil Profits (DROP) Act of 2025, which would require targeted sanctions on purchasers, intermediaries, and other parties anywhere in the world that deal in Russian-origin oil, cutting sanctioned parties off from the U.S. financial system. The proposal is positioned as closing a gap in U.S. sanctions by targeting the broader ecosystem that imports and moves Russian oil. The bill would allow the Administration to apply sanctions with limited flexibility by selecting up to two of four exception frameworks: allowing imports where a purchasing country pays into an escrow account that isolates Russian proceeds while significantly reducing purchases over time, exempting transactions where a per-barrel fee is paid into an account to support Ukraine, exempting imports to countries providing significant military or economic support for Ukraine, and a temporary port-specific exception for certain Russian ports to ramp up pressure over time. None of the exceptions would apply to activities tied to above-price cap purchases of Russian crude oil or refined petroleum products, creating a mandatory sanctions trigger for anyone, anywhere dealing in Russian oil bought above the price cap; the release also cites circumvention of prior designations through redirected and relabeled exports and a halt since January in regular U.S. counter-evasion sanctions against firms in China and other third countries.