Senator Jerry Moran said sanctions on Russian fuel exports have for several years deprived funding for Vladimir Putin’s unjust war in Ukraine and provided leverage to help end it. He said the United States should be tightening those sanctions further, not undercutting them by allowing the import of Russian diesel and risking erasing that leverage, damaging credibility with allies, and emboldening adversaries. The Kansas Republican posted the statement on Monday. An identical release appeared on his Senate site the same day.
“Sanctions on Russian fuel exports have, for the last several years, deprived funding for Putin’s unjust war in Ukraine and provided leverage to help end it. We should be tightening sanctions further, not undercutting them by allowing the import of Russian diesel and risking erasing our leverage, damaging our credibility with allies, and emboldening our adversaries,” Moran wrote Monday. A matching release on his Senate site carried the same language and identified him as a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Neither names a volume or a buyer.
The license on the record is diesel. The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License No. 135 on Oct. 9. The license text authorizes, except as provided in paragraph (b), all transactions prohibited by the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 587, or the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 589, that are related to the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin, through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 7, 2027. Paragraph (b) excludes debits to accounts of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund, or the Ministry of Finance. It does not mention Ukraine, leverage, or allies. Moran’s statement treats the license as undercutting sanctions. The license does not address that claim.
A broader sanctions law was signed weeks earlier. A White House notice said the president signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 on Sept. 18. The act, H.R. 5334, expands sanctions on Russia. Member releases describe termination conditions that require a presidential certification that Russia has ceased hostilities and signed a peace agreement accepted by Ukraine. No such certification is on a White House page. Moran’s statement does not cite the act.
Moran’s post and release do not quantify the revenue effect or name a specific ally. They assert that allowing Russian diesel imports risks erasing leverage, damaging credibility, and emboldening adversaries. Those characterizations are his. The OFAC license authorizes defined transactions. It does not state an effect on leverage or credibility.
No Treasury or State Department release posted this week answers Moran’s statement. The license remains the document that authorizes the imports. An Oct. 5 White House fact sheet cited the Russia-Ukraine war as a driver of restricted diesel supply and described domestic measures. It did not announce an easing of Russian fuel sanctions.
“Tightening sanctions further,” “undercutting them,” and “erasing our leverage” are Moran’s. The Oct. 9 license, the Sept. 18 signing of the Graham Act, and the absence of a certification under that act are the documents. The gap is between a senator who says the diesel license undercuts years of sanctions leverage and a license that authorizes the imports without addressing Ukraine or the terms of any peace.