Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Monday that his bill would threaten sanctions against the Russians if they interfere in any future elections.

“We expect the Russians to interfere in the midterm elections. So we need to do everything we can to stop that,” Mr. Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, said on MSNBC.

On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three Russian entities, charged with meddling in the 2016 election. Mr. Van Hollen said intelligence officials warn the Russians will try to do it again, and the U.S. must take preventative measures to stop any interference before it happens.

The Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act, sponsored with Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, threatens Russia with sanctions across different sectors in the hopes it will prevent the communist nation from any attempted interference.

“It’s called the Deter Act, very simple, it says that if they get caught again, if the director of national intelligence finds that they’ve interfered in the 2018 election, or any elections going forward, you have immediate, automatic, nonwaivable sanctions that really hit Russia very hard in the economic sector, in the oil sector [and] in the banking sector,” Mr. Van Hollen said.