Pence calls on Trump to restore sanctions, scrap Russia diesel deal

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday called for President Trump to restore sanctions on Russia and condemned his recent diesel agreement with President Vladimir Putin.

“President Trump’s decision to waive sanctions against Russia as Putin continues his brutal war of aggression against Ukraine dishonors the legacy of the late Senator Lindsey Graham and is decidedly not in the national interests of the United States and should be reversed,” the former vice president wrote in a post on the social platform X.

“Putin is a war criminal and only understands strength. Waiving Graham Act sanctions on Russia signals weakness at a moment that demands American strength. Now is the time to stand strong against Russian aggression, just as we did during the years of the first Trump Administration,” he added.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order waiving specific sanctions within the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, a legislation package designed to pressure Russia into ending its years-long war against Ukraine.

The president announced earlier this month his intention to lift sanctions on Russia following a conversation with Putin, allowing 300,000 tons of Russian oil to supply the U.S. and global economies.

The decision — which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called “ gifts to Putin ” — has been met with intense backlash.

“This filthy deal will only aid and abet the same Putin who is helping the Iranians to target and try to kill American troops in the Middle East and who illegally and viciously invaded our ally Ukraine,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on X in response to the announcement .

Republicans have also criticized it. On Thursday, five House GOP lawmakers joined Democratic colleagues in calling for Trump to cancel the deal.

But the president and other Trump administration officials have not yet yielded to critical members of their party.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday defended the president’s decision .

“This is a carrot to try to end a war,” Wright said in an interview on ABC News’s “This Week.” “It’s not an economic lifeline for Russia.”