Trump signed an executive order on Friday night exempting Russia from new sanctions legislation that Congress passed last month, offering an economic lifeline to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin as the United States turns to Russia for help lowering gas prices. The new sanctions were intended to target Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions, and were part of legislation that was named after Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died in July after spending more than a year building support for the measure. The law, which is designed to squeeze the financial lifelines sustaining Russia’s war against Ukraine, also provided Trump with additional tariff authority that he could use to punish countries that continue to trade with Russia. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/us/politics/trump-order-russia-sanctions.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share