WASHINGTON, July 15. /TASS/. The US Senate will refrain from advancing a bill on tougher sanctions against Russia following US President Donald Trump's statements about his intention to impose import duties on Moscow if no agreements on a settlement in Ukraine are reached, Republican Majority Leader in the upper house of Congress John Thune of South Dakota said.

"It sounds like right now the president is going to attempt to do some of this on his own," Thune stated, as quoted by Politico. "If at some point the president concludes that it makes sense and adds value and leverage that he needs in those negotiations to move the bill, then we’ll do it. We’ll be ready to go," he added.

"We are going to try as best we can [...], coordinate strategies with the White House, obviously with the House [of Representatives]," the senator pointed out.

The bill was introduced in early April by a bipartisan group of senators led by Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina (who is included on Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists), and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut. The proposal includes measures such as secondary sanctions against Russia’s trading partners, for example, tariffs of 500% on imports to the US from countries that purchase oil, gas, uranium, and other goods from Russia.

Earlier, Trump announced that Washington would continue transferring weapons and military equipment to Kiev if Europe agreed to pay for the supplies. The US leader specified that NATO would coordinate this process. In addition, he noted that the United States would impose import duties of approximately 100% on Russia and its trading partners if Moscow and Washington fail to reach an agreement on a settlement in Ukraine within 50 days.