President Donald Trump, left, with Russian President Vladimir Putin | File photo In a major u-turn, US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he is waiving many sanctions, restrictions, and duties days before they were to take effect under the Graham bill that he signed into law last month, Reuters reported. The Graham Bill had cleared the way for imposing 100 per cent sanctions on Russia and also on countries that were engaging with Moscow economically, including oil and energy trade. But this move by the Trump administration, coming just days before the sanctions were to hit the ground, has also left India watching closely the developments. Trump's executive order comes as he has been warming toward Russia and publicly criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, including suggesting ?that Ukraine needs a new leader. The legislation, whose primary backer in Congress was the late Senator Lindsey Graham, would have imposed tariffs of up to 100% within 30 days on all goods brought into the US from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas, as well as any country that knowingly bought oil or gas 30 days ?after ?the law was enacted or was among the top five countries helping Russia evade sanctions. The move has also come just a week after Trump stunningly said the US had agreed to purchase diesel from Russia to try and bring down global energy prices, despite that potentially hurting Ukraine in its war with Russia. The Trump administration has remained mostly quiet since the recent passage of the bill with large bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate after Graham’s sudden death — with lawmakers urged ahead by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump’s latest action followed the president announcing on social media last week that he had reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he was expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia. Instead, Trump announced that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote. The measure also had become a campaign centerpiece for Sen. Darline Graham, the late senator’s sister appointed to serve out the remaining months in his current term, who is also running to replace him in the Senate more permanently. In a debate earlier this week with Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, Graham — who has Trump’s endorsement and is expected to campaign with him in South Carolina next week — said she had been “so proud” to help get the measure passed but acknowledged it was the president’s purview as to how he implemented it. “It gives the president tools that he can use if he so chooses, to end the war through economic sanctions,” Graham said Sunday during a debate in Columbia. “So that’s up to him as to whether or not he wants to use it, or whether he wants to use something else, but I think the purpose of it is to bring down the gas prices and ultimately end the war. And when the war ends, gas prices will fall.” Shashwat Bhandari is the Associate Editor at Times Now. With 14 years of experience in the news and media industry, he understands the responsibility ... View More