"These sanctions were imposed because of their behavior in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and now we know they’ve been messing around in our elections as well,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO McConnell to Trump: Do not lift sanctions on Russia The president's phone call with Vladimir Putin Saturday threatens to strain his relationship with congressional Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan are drawing a hard line against easing sanctions on Russia, issuing stern warnings ahead of President Donald Trump’s first official communication with Vladimir Putin since his inauguration last week.

“I’m against lifting any sanctions on the Russians. These sanctions were imposed because of their behavior in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and now we know they’ve been messing around in our elections as well,” McConnell said in an interview with POLITICO on Friday. “If there’s any country in the world that doesn’t deserve sanctions relief, it’s Russia.”


Trump’s phone call Saturday with his Russian counterpart could put the new strain on his uneasy truce with GOP congressional leaders.

The big question is whether McConnell and Ryan would be willing to go beyond words to stop Trump from relaxing sanctions imposed by the Obama administration as punishment for Russia’s meddling in November’s presidential election and for its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

If Trump does move to ease sanctions, Republicans could be forced to choose between the GOP’s longstanding hawkish stance toward Russia and Trump’s unorthodox embrace of Putin, whom he has repeatedly praised in Tweets.

Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News that lifting sanctions could be on the table when Trump and Putin speak on Saturday. Trump, though, signaled during a news conference Friday he was not yet ready to relax sanctions, saying it is “very early to be talking about that.”

In the past, the president has said he would be interested in lifting sanctions as part of a deal to reduce nuclear weapons.

Pressure is mounting on McConnell and Ryan to allow votes on bills that would make it harder for Trump to lift the sanctions — measures that would represent an act of defiance toward a president determined to improve relations with Moscow.

McConnell declined to comment when asked by POLITICO about legislation to codify existing sanctions into law .

“I think the first step is to make sure we don’t undo — either legislatively or through the executive branch — any of the existing sanctions,” he said. “And we’ll talk about new ones in the future.”

But the Kentucky Republican is facing calls from members of his own caucus to back bills that would hamstring Trump’s ability to lift the sanctions, which were put in place through executive actions and could be undone with the stroke of a pen.

Five Republican senators — including John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida — have signed on as co-sponsors of a measure by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) to ratchet up sanctions on Russia.

McCain and Graham are also backing a bipartisan measure to bar Trump from lifting sanctions unless he gets approval from Congress.

McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned on Friday that any decision from the administration to lift sanctions would face not only congressional resistance but an effort to restore them legislatively.

“President Donald Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin is scheduled to take place amid widespread speculation that the White House is considering lifting sanctions against Russia,” he said in a statement. “For the sake of America’s national security and that of our allies, I hope President Trump will put an end to this speculation and reject such a reckless course.”

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), another co-sponsor of Cardin’s sanctions bill, said in a statement said he is “deeply concerned” by reports sanctions could be lifted.

“I believe the U.S. Senate should take pro-active steps to codify the sanctions against Russia into law to ensure we live up to our commitments to our allies and uphold longstanding American values and ideals,” Portman said. “To lift the sanctions on Russia for any reason other than a change in the behavior that led to those sanctions in the first place would send a dangerous message.”

Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been working behind the scenes to pressure Republicans to hold hearings on the bills, a first step toward getting them to the Senate floor for a vote.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said in an interview he was open to holding hearings but first wanted to make sure the measures were about “substance,” as he put it, and not “messaging bills.”

In the House, Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, is pushing a bill to slap new sanctions on Russia for what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was a covert effort to sway the presidential election in Trump’s favor, by hacking the Democratic National Committee and through propaganda.

Asked about the issue on Friday, Ryan said he believes sanctions are “overdue.”

“I think Obama was late in putting them in place,” he said. “I think they should stay."