U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is on Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists, believes that resolving the conflict in Ukraine requires continuing to threaten Russian oil buyers with secondary sanctions.
According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot come to terms with the fact” that his country’s partners are subject to sanctions.
“He doesn’t care about the sanctions. He can get around them. But the only thing he can’t tolerate is that we go after his clients,” Graham said in an interview with NBC News.
By “clients,” Graham was referring mainly to India, China, and Brazil.
The senator stressed that countries buying Russian oil and “supporting Russia’s war machine” will be denied access to the U.S. economy.
