Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to co-sponsor the Sanctioning Harbors and Dodgers of Western Sanctions or SHADOW Fleets Act.
This bill will vastly expand U.S. sanctions authorities to target a collection of older, reflagged oil tankers that Russia uses to circumvent existing U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and energy revenues. This collection of oil tankers is known as the Russian shadow fleet. The SHADOW Fleets Act would further discourage countries from purchasing Russian oil, which fuels Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Tammy Duckworth (D-IlI.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also co-sponsor this bill.
“Amid Putin’s intransigence and daily attacks on civilians across Ukraine, Congress must make Russia pay a further price for its aggression – particularly as Russia stands to benefit from spiking oil and gas prices caused by President Trump’s unauthorized war with Iran,” said Bennet. “This bill will ensure that Putin does not profit from President Trump’s Middle East quagmire, and put further pressure on Putin to compel him to end his war in Ukraine.”
“Putin will use every trick in the book to evade U.S. sanctions, and the U.S. is cracking down on this illicit shadow fleet of ships that he uses to fund his war. These ships and the oil sales they facilitate directly threaten American and European security, and will be stopped,” said Risch.
“This is a clear bipartisan signal that action must be taken by Congress to finally bring this war to an end. Ukraine has been holding the line against Putin for more than 3 years – deterring and preventing Russian aggression against NATO,” said Shaheen. “We must use all tools at our disposal to stand with Ukraine including sanctioning Russia’s shadow fleet to choke off funds to Putin’s war machine. Our allies have sanctioned hundreds more shadow fleet vessels than the United States – this legislation would force the Trump Administration to bridge that gap. We cannot wait a moment longer to starve Putin from funding streams that continue his illegal war on Ukraine. I am proud to co-lead this critical piece of bipartisan legislation to force Putin to the negotiating table and end this war.”
Russia continues to float its economy with massive oil and energy revenues earned through the exploitation of the G7 oil price cap and blatant evasion of Western sanctions using its shadow fleet – a collection of older, often reflagged oil tankers used to circumvent Western sanctions on Russian oil exports.
The G7, European Union, and other U.S. allies continue to increase sanctions enforcement. In response, Russia has deployed warships to escort its shadow fleet vessels through the Baltic Sea. This is an unprecedented escalation that increases the potential for a security or ecological incident.
The SHADOW Fleets Act will vastly expand U.S. sanctions authorities in key gaps, such as by targeting the shadow fleet, Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) projects, the Russian defense industrial base, and the Nord Stream II Russian pipeline to Europe.
Bennet has staunchly supported the Ukrainian people since Putin launched his unjustified, unprovoked, and unlawful full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In March 2026, Bennet joined U.S. Senators Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jon Husted (R-Ohio), Chris Coons, and John Curtis (R-Utah) on the Decreasing Russia Oil Profits (DROP) Act of 2025, legislation requiring targeted sanctions on firms and individuals dealing in Russian oil. In the same month, he wrote an op-ed in EURACTIV – a leading European outlet – urging the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and other like-minded allies to form a coalition to cooperatively and immediately use Russian sovereign assets on Ukraine’s behalf.
In February 2026, Bennet also joined Senator Shaheen, Senator Tillis, and several other Senate colleagues to introduce a bipartisan resolution recognizing the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Throughout 2025, Bennet fought for his legislation ensuring intelligence support to Ukraine to be included in the Intelligence Authorization Act and National Defense Authorization Act.
In December 2025, Bennet led a bipartisan letter to Belgian Ambassador to the U.S. Frédéric Bernard expressing support for European Commission efforts to leverage Russian sovereign assets to finance a loan for Ukraine. Bennet is a co-sponsor of the REPO Implementation Act, bipartisan legislation to repurpose frozen Russian sovereign assets held in the United States to support Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. The legislation would build on the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act, which Bennet co-sponsored and which President Joe Biden signed into law in April 2024.
In February 2025, Bennet joined Senators Shaheen and Tillis on a bipartisan congressional delegation to Kyiv, Ukraine. In September 2024, Bennet called on the Biden Administration to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike military targets in Russia, which President Biden authorized weeks later. Bennet also visited Lviv, Ukraine with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and colleagues in early 2024.
Bennet played a leading role in securing the April 2024 passage of the national security supplemental package, which included $60.84 billion in emergency support for Ukraine, including by objecting and holding must-pass measures through 2023 and 2024.
The text of the bill is available HERE.
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