UNITED States President Donald Trump has slammed Russia’s two biggest oil companies with sanctions in his latest policy shift on Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
According to Reuters, the sanction prompted global oil prices to rise by three per cent on Thursday, October 23, with India considering cutting Russian imports.
US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, late Wednesday announced new sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil, a sharp policy reversal for President Trump, who just last week said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to meet in Budapest to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
“Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine,” Bessent said in a statement. “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions,” he added.
Bessent emphasised that Washington was prepared to take additional measures, aiming to weaken Russia’s capacity to finance the war it began in February 2022.
The US Treasury has set a deadline of November 21 for companies to conclude all transactions with the Russian oil producers.
Similarly, Trump announced the cancellation of the planned summit on Wednesday because he no longer believed it would deliver the results he hoped for, lamenting that despite having many “good conversations” with Putin did not “go anywhere”.
Following his August summit with Putin in Alaska, Trump abandoned his call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and instead backed Moscow’s preferred approach, moving directly toward negotiating a comprehensive peace deal.
In recent days, however, he has returned to advocating for an immediate ceasefire — a position supported by Kyiv but firmly rejected by Moscow, whose forces continue to make gradual gains on the battlefield.
Russia has argued against a ceasefire, claiming it would merely serve as a temporary break before hostilities resume, allowing Ukraine to rearm while Moscow maintains what it sees as an advantage on the battlefield.
In a show of force on Wednesday, Moscow conducted a major training exercise involving nuclear weapons.
Russia contends that pursuing a comprehensive peace agreement, the one it claims would lead to a “lasting peace”, is a more viable approach.
Kyiv, however, has rejected Russia’s proposed settlement terms which would require Ukraine to cede additional territory, calling them unacceptable and tantamount to a demand for surrender.
Reacting to the US sanction, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed gratitude to the United States, saying they were “very important”, noting that more pressure would be needed on Moscow.
According to reports, oil and gas revenues are currently down 21 per cent year-on-year making up roughly a quarter of Russia’s budget and remain the main source of funding for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, now entering its fourth year.
However, Moscow’s main revenue source comes from taxing output, not exports, which is likely to soften the immediate impact of the sanctions on state finances.
Reuters reported that oil prices surged by more than three per cent on Thursday over fears that the sanctions could disrupt global supply.
It revealed that industry sources in India said local refiners were preparing to significantly cut imports of Russian oil to stay in compliance with US sanctions.
Since Western nations halted purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, India has emerged as the largest buyer of discounted seaborne Russian oil.
The ICIR reported in May that Trump said Putin could be working for his country’s downfall with its unrestrained bid to take over Ukraine.
He described Putin as going “absolutely crazy” following Russia’s largest aerial assault on Ukraine, adding that he was weighing additional sanctions on Moscow.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.