Putin turned down a three-way summit with Trump and Zelenskyy. Will Washington impose new Russia sanctions before Sept 8?

Washington did not impose new sanctions on Russia before the Sept. 8 deadline. The push stalled in Congress: House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sept. 3 that the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which had passed the Senate 86-11 in August, was unlikely to reach a House floor vote before the November midterms, citing opposition from senior Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means committees and concerns the bill would hand the administration broad new tariff authority. Diplomatically, the run-up to Sept. 8 also saw the Kremlin dismiss the idea of a near-term three-way summit: presidential aide Dmitry Peskov said Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy could meet only to formalize an agreement that does not yet exist, not to negotiate one. The Trump administration favored diplomacy over new punitive measures through this stretch of 2026, and no fresh Treasury action against Russia was announced before the deadline. The community leaned toward "no" at 74% (26% yes), correctly anticipating that sanctions would not materialize on this timeline. The underlying dynamic — a stalled legislative sanctions push paired with an unproductive summit track — continued past Sept. 8 without resolution.