U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Democrats call for Treasury Secretary Bessent to testify on Russia sanctions relief

Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, alongside Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, issued a joint statement accusing the Trump Administration of providing further sanctions relief to Russia and urging Treasury Secretary Bessent to testify to Congress on the decision and its rationale. The statement cited reports that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence to target U.S. servicemembers and argued that easing sanctions pressure could deliver a windfall of USD 150 million per day to Russia’s war machine. It also raised concerns about Treasury’s shifting explanations for its use of sanctions authorities and questioned whether the Administration is complying with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act requirement to notify Congress before relaxing sanctions on the Kremlin, including whether the approach is intended to avoid privileged votes of disapproval. The lawmakers pointed to Bessent’s prior testimony that sanctions on two Russian oil companies were significant, and argued that rolling back those measures, along with sanctions affecting other Russian entities including oil majors, traders, intermediaries and shadow fleet operators, cannot credibly be characterised as “narrowly tailored.”